Memo: Polling Medicare for All
By Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress; John Ray, Senior Political Analyst, YouGov Blue
As the Democratic primary heats up, Democratic presidential candidates have begun sharing their plans to pay for Medicare for All. Today, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren released a plan to finance Medicare for All that would not raise taxes on the middle class, but raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy instead. We have previously shown that Senator Warren’s tax plan itself is popular; here, we focus on public opinion related specifically to Medicare for All and to the funding mechanisms Senator Warren has proposed. This memo briefly summarizes the results.
Executive Summary:
Senator Warren’s Medicare for All financing plan, that doesn’t raise taxes on the middle class, is supported by a 57-30 percent margin among voters, and it is supported by a 53-32 percent margin among independents as well. Fully 1 in 3 Republicans support this financing plan as well
Voters clearly support the goal of universal health coverage, with 59 percent of voters saying they would be more supportive of legislation if they thought it would achieve universal coverage. Seventy-four percent would be more supportive of Medicare for All if they knew it eliminated uncertainty as to whether or not a patient could see any doctor without worrying about their coverage
Opponents of Medicare for All tend to have more comprehensive coverage already and therefore likely do not perceive any benefits to them of moving to a different system. In contrast, those with less coverage or with more uncertainty about their current coverage favor Medicare for All
A Democrat running on Medicare for All would defeat Trump in a hypothetical election matchup, a finding consistent across repeated experiments using multiple vendors
Voters report that media coverage of Medicare for All overall is mixed, with those who say they have heard a lot about Medicare for All splitting evenly on whether what they’ve heard has been positive or negative
Voters know the healthcare positions of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but there is more uncertainty around the beliefs of other candidates like Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden
Medicare for All is not viewed as political extremism, with more voters saying that it is reflective of common goals seen in other democratic countries than saying it is reflective of a socialist takeover of healthcare by the government
