Forty-four percent of voters say they support a government-run healthcare system, according to findings released Wednesday by Morning Consult/Politico. That was the largest share of those surveyed in the poll.
Participants were responding to a question about their level of support for a healthcare system in which “all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan,” and the largest plurality responded that they “strongly support” or “somewhat support” the proposal. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they “somewhat oppose” or “strongly oppose” a single-payer system.
Among voters who helped elect President Trump, the poll found, 37 percent support single payer, while 48 percent oppose it. Among independent voters, 42 percent support it and 33 percent oppose it. More than half of Democrats back the proposal.
Congressional Republicans have been working to fulfill a campaign promise to undo Obamacare, a law that changed the healthcare system by providing government funds to help pay for private coverage but also allowed more low-income people to receive coverage under the government’s Medicaid program. Attitudes on Obamacare have been rising in recent months, though disapproval is still high among Trump voters, at 71 percent, the poll found. The figure is down from early January, however, when the rate was 79 percent.
Efforts to pass single-payer healthcare at the state level have failed in recent years. On the federal side, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has often touted his vision for “Medicare for all,” and a House bill for universal coverage introduced in the previous Congress was co-sponsored by 62 Democrats.
The survey, which involved 1,988 registered voters, was conducted online from April 6 to April 9.
