New Poll: More Than Half of Americans Report Lowering Healthcare Costs Among Most Important Issues in Determining Their Vote For President
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sept. 30, 2024 — Lowering the cost of healthcare and prescription drug prices and protecting Medicare and Social Security are among the most important issues for Americans in determining their vote for president, according to a new national West Health-Gallup Poll released today.
Nearly two-thirds say a candidate’s position on Medicare/Social Security (63%) is the single or among the most important issues, followed closely by healthcare costs (57%). Forty-three percent view access to mental healthcare as important, an emerging issue now seen as close to the level of importance as prescription drug prices (47%), which have been a concern for many years over multiple elections. However, despite the importance of these issues to voters, two-in-three say healthcare is not yet receiving enough attention in the 2024 presidential campaign, and more Democrats (78%) and independents (66%) than Republicans (53%) hold this view. Only 6% of respondents say it’s getting too much attention, while 27% say it’s getting the right amount.
“Americans remain concerned over high healthcare prices and the future of Medicare and Social Security even though other issues dominate during this election cycle, and this is especially true for older Americans, a significant voting bloc,” said Timothy Lash, President, West Health Policy Center. “Americans across all political stripes want to know where candidates stand on these critical issues and do not think they’ve heard enough yet. It will be interesting to see how the candidates and political parties address this.”
Independent voters were slightly more likely to report trusting Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in addressing key healthcare issues, according to the survey. This was especially true for improving access to care and insurance coverage and strengthening Medicare. Independents were more than 10 points more likely to say they trust Harris over Trump when considering these issues. It is notable that about a third of independents report not trusting either candidate across key healthcare issues. Republicans and Democrats generally fell along party lines, but more Democrats (about 90%) were trusting of their candidate than Republicans (about 70%).
When asked how likely it is that access to affordable healthcare will improve in the next five years, many Democrats express optimism, while Republicans and independents are more pessimistic. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats believe access is very or somewhat likely to improve, while majorities of Republicans (70%) and independents (64%) say improvement is not very or not at all likely.
Methodology
The West Health-Gallup Pre-Election Healthcare Survey was conducted by web Sept. 9-16, 2024, with 3,660 adults aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia as a part of the Gallup Panel. For results based on the full sample, the margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is ±2.0 percentage points for response percentages around 50% and is ±1.2 percentage points for response percentages around 10% or 90%, design effect included. Reported subgroups will have a larger margin of error, typically ±3 to ±5 percentage points.
Gallup weighted the combined samples to correct for nonresponse. Nonresponse adjustments were made by adjusting the sample to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education and region. Demographic weighting targets were based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
About West Health
Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health is a family of nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations including the Gary and Mary West Foundation and Gary and Mary West Health Institute in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. West Health is dedicated to lowering healthcare costs to enable seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. Learn more at westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.
About Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.
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