Voters say health care costs will be a major factor in their choice in this year’s midterm elections. (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Voters, including those within the Make America Healthy Again movement, say rising health care costs are a major issue that will impact who they support in the November midterm elections, according to a poll released Wednesday by KFF.
61 percent of those surveyed Opinion pollwho asked how crucial various health-related issues are, said the price of health care will have a massive impact on which party they support since control of Congress is at stake.
Among MAHA voters, who are mostly Republicans but also include independents and some Democrats, 42% said costs were their top issue heading into the election.
“While the issue of health care costs is more important to Democratic voters than Republicans, a larger share of partisans say health care costs will have a greater impact on their voting decisions than saying the same about vaccination policy or food safety,” the poll says.
72 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and 47 percent of Republicans said health care costs will have a major impact on which party candidate they vote for.
Next came vaccine policy: 57% of Democrats, 46% of Independents and 32% of Republicans said it will have a major impact on their choice.
Issues related to food safety came in third, with 43% of Democrats, 40% of Independents and 38% of Republicans responding that it will have a major impact on their choice of candidate.
MAHA problems
For MAHA voters, twice as many listed health care costs as a top priority as the next issue: restricting the exploit of certain chemical additives in food, which was a key concern for 21%.
Ten percent were interested in politicians reevaluating vaccine approval, 8 percent want lawmakers to limit companies’ interest in food, and 8 percent want Congress to limit the exploit of pesticides in agriculture. Eleven percent said nothing or had no answer.
The poll found that a clear majority of Americans across the political spectrum believe the government has not done enough to address chemical additives in food or the exploit of pesticides in agriculture, two key demands of MAHA supporters.
“The public perception that there is not enough regulation may be based on broader skepticism about the industries themselves,” the survey says. “Most adults in the United States do not trust pharmaceutical companies, food and beverage companies, or agricultural companies to act in the best interest of the public.”
Doctors and healthcare providers were the most trusted source of information at 70%, followed by agriculture companies at 40%, food and beverage companies at 25% and pharmaceutical companies at 21%.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said the government has not done enough to regulate chemicals in food, while 65 percent said it should do more to regulate pesticides in agriculture.
The survey of 1,343 U.S. adults took place April 14-19. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 6 percentage points for MAHA supporters.
