Healthcare Costs Top Voter Concerns Ahead of Midterms

A new poll from KFF found that healthcare costs are the top health-related issue influencing voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. Sixty-one percent of respondents said the price of healthcare will have a major impact on which party they support as control of Congress hangs in the balance.

Among voters aligned with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement — a group made up mostly of Republicans along with independents and some Democrats — 42% said healthcare costs are their biggest concern. The next-highest issue was restricting chemical additives in food at 21%.

“While the issue of health costs is more salient for Democratic voters than for Republicans, larger shares across partisans say health costs will have a major impact on their voting decisions than say the same about vaccine policy or food safety,” the survey said.

The poll found 72% of Democrats, 63% of independents and 47% of Republicans said healthcare costs would strongly influence their vote. Vaccine policy ranked second, followed by food safety concerns.

The survey also showed widespread distrust of major industries and concern that the government has not done enough to regulate food chemicals and agricultural pesticides — both major priorities for MAHA supporters.

Doctors and healthcare providers were the most trusted source of information at 70%, compared to 40% for agriculture companies, 25% for food and beverage companies and 21% for pharmaceutical companies.

The poll surveyed 1,343 U.S. adults from April 14 to April 19 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.