Republicans’ Proposed Budget Policies Are Unpopular
By Abby Springs
The Republican Study Committee — which represents nearly 4 in 5 members of the House Republican caucus — recently released a budget that targets Social Security, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and other popular government programs. However, new polling from Data for Progress finds that these elements of the RSC’s budget proposal are widely unpopular with voters.
The RSC budget advocates cutting funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), housing assistance, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). When voters are asked whether they support increasing funding, cutting funding, or keeping funding the same for these programs, voters overwhelmingly reject funding cuts.
Less than 10% of voters support cutting funding for Medicaid (6%), housing assistance (9%), CHIP (2%), Medicare (3%), or Social Security (2%), and only 12% of voters support cutting funding for the ACA.
As president, Joe Biden has enacted multiple policies that promote lower health care costs for Americans, particularly seniors and those with disabilities. However, Republicans are proposing to roll back these policies, including the $35 per month cap on insulin costs and legislation that caps annual prescription drug spending at $2,000 per year for those on Medicare.
Seventy-nine percent of voters agree that “we should keep the $35 per month cap on insulin costs for seniors on Medicare.”
Similarly, 77% of voters support capping out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at $2,000 per year. This includes 84% of Democrats, 78% of Republicans, and 67% of Independents.
Overall, the results indicate that policies included in the Republican Study Committee budget are extremely unpopular among the electorate. Voters would prefer to see funding for Social Security, Medicare, and other popular government programs increased, not slashed.
Abby Springs (@abby_springs) is the Press Secretary at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From March 27 to 29, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,200 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.