Do Americans trust Trump or Harris more to fix health care issues? What new poll found

Americans are divided along party lines over which presidential candidate they trust more to reform health care — an issue they say is receiving too little attention this election cycle, according to new polling.

In the latest Gallup poll released Sept. 30, independents and Democrats said they had more confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris to expand health care access, increase quality and lower costs, while Republicans said they had more confidence in former President Donald Trump.

Respondents also said the candidates’ stances on these issues are extremely important in determining how they would vote in the presidential election, which is just weeks away.

The poll, which was conducted between Sept. 9 and 16, sampled 3,660 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Trust in candidates

The overwhelming majority of Democrats, 90%, said they trusted Harris more to expand access to insurance coverage and health care, while 71% of Republicans said the same for Trump. Thirty-seven percent of independents signaled they were more confident in Harris, compared with 26% who said they were more confident in Trump.

Eighty-seven percent of Democrats said they trusted the vice president to increase the quality of health care, while 73% of Republicans said the same for Trump. Among independents, 32% said they trusted Harris more and 26% said they trusted Trump more on this issue.

Similarly, 87% of Democrats responded that they were more confident in Harris to lower the overall cost of health care, and 73% of Republicans said the same of Trump. Thirty-three percent of independents said they trusted Harris more, and 27% said they trusted Trump more.

Ninety-one percent of Democrats said they trusted the vice president to protect or strengthen Medicare, while 72% of Republicans said the same about Trump. Thirty-eight percent of independents said they trusted Harris more on this issue, and 25% said they trusted Trump more.

Lack of attention on health care

Two-thirds of respondents also said they believe health care has not received enough attention in the election cycle so far, while just 6% said it has received too much attention. Twenty-seven percent said it has garnered the right amount.

A majority of respondents across partisan lines agreed that the issue hasn’t been highlighted enough. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats, 67% of independents and 53% of Republicans said health care hasn’t received enough attention.

Republicans were the most likely to say the issue has received enough (35%) or too much (12%) attention.

Importance of health care in voting

Large shares of respondents also said that the candidates’ views on health care issues will be important in determining how they will cast their ballots.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 63%, said the candidates’ positions on protecting Medicare and Social Security will be the single most important or among the most important issue in determining how they vote.

A slightly smaller share, 57%, said the candidates’ stance on lowering health care costs will be an important factor in how they vote.

And, when asked about lowering drug costs and policies related to mental health care access, 47% and 43%, respectively, said these would be important issues in determining how they cast their ballots.

Future of health care reform

Democrats signaled they were far more optimistic than Republicans and independents about the prospect of achieving affordable health care in the near future.

Fifty-eight percent of Democrats said they think it is very or somewhat likely that access to affordable health care will improve in the next five years. In contrast, 36% of independents and 30% of Republicans said the same.

In total, 41% of respondents said they thought it was very or somewhat likely access would improve in five years, while a majority, 59%, said they thought it was not very likely or not likely at all.

This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Do Americans trust Trump or Harris more to fix health care issues? What new poll found."