VOTER VITALS V – A Health Care Tracking Poll: National Tracking Poll Shows Voters Prefer Building On The Current System

MEMORANDUM 

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Lauren Crawford Shaver, The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future
RE: VOTER VITALS V – A Health Care Tracking Poll
DATE: December 3, 2020

The fifth edition of Voter Vitals – a tracking poll conducted nationwide and in 2020 battleground states by Locust Street Group for the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future – finds a supermajority of voters support building on and improving what’s working in health care during this critical time. In particular, the vast majority of voters with health insurance are satisfied with their coverage and believe private coverage should have a role in our health care system. As a new Congress is seated and a new administration is sworn into office, lowering costs remains the top health care priority for voters —regardless of political affiliation.  
 
“Today, an overwhelming majority of voters are satisfied with their current coverage. The latest installment of Voter Vitals shows policymakers should work to lower costs and improve what we have today where private coverage, Medicare, and Medicaid work together to expand access to coverage and care, not create something new like the public option,” said Phillip Morris, Partner of Locust Street Group.

Key findings of the survey include:

• Lowering COSTS (67 percent) is the top health care priority for Democratic, Swing and Republican voters.
• More voters support FIXING what we have today (66 percent support) than the public option (43 percent support) and Medicare for All (40 percent support).
• 69 percent of voters would rather BUILD ON our current health care system than create the public option (31 percent).
• 78 percent of voters with health insurance coverage are SATISFIED with their coverage.
• 71 percent of voters are UNWILLING to pay any more for health care and 69 percent are UNWILLING to pay any more in taxes to create the public option.
• 67 percent of voters believe PRIVATE COVERAGE should continue to exist and have a role in our health care system.

Methodology:

• N=1,000 voters nationwide 
• Balanced to U.S. demographics by gender, age, race, income, political ideology and health coverage.
• Fielded online from November 8-17, 2020.
• MOE: +/- 3%.

The fifth edition of Voter Vitals tracks closely with other national polling:

• Recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reveals that the majority of Americans have a favorable view of the current health care system.Overwhelmingly, voters want candidates to focus on protecting people with pre-existing conditions (94 percent) and lowering health care costs (92 percent).
• Polling from the Pew Research Center shows that a majority of Americans (56 percent) support building on our current system where private coverage, Medicare, and Medicaid work together to expand access to health coverage and care.
• The Kaiser Family Foundation finds the current health care law is “gaining in popularity” and that threatening to repeal it “has become a political liability.”

To read Locust Street’s executive summary of the survey findings, CLICK HERE.

To read Locust Street’s complete survey analysis, CLICK HERE.

The fourth edition of Voter Vitals was conducted in September and can be viewed HERE. 

The third edition of Voter Vitals was conducted in March and can be viewed HERE.

The second edition of Voter Vitals was conducted in November and can be viewed HERE.

The first edition of Voter Vitals was conducted last August and can be viewed HERE.

To learn more about the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, CLICK HERE.