Rising prescription drug prices is one of the top issues for Iowa voters, a new poll finds.
About nine in 10 Iowa voters say it is important for presidential candidates to address rising drug costs, according to a poll released Wednesday by Morning Consult. The poll was sponsored by the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, created by a coalition of insurers and unions.
In addition to the drug pricing questions, the poll found that Donald Trump leads Ben Carson in the state 29 to 17 percent, and Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders by 18 percentage points.
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The coalition said the poll findings for drug prices spread across political lines.
“Simply put, voters are looking for relief from astronomical drug prices and favor candidates who understand this is a pocketbook issue for American families,” said John Rother, executive director of the coalition.
Other findings include that seven in 10 voters support increasing transparency in how drugs are priced by requiring companies to publish research and development, marketing and sales costs for their products.
Transparency has been a common topic in the debate over drug prices, as several states are pursuing laws forcing companies to disclose their costs.
The pharmaceutical industry has said that it needs to charge higher prices to recoup the investments in research and development and capping prices would chill innovation.
The industry has recently said that it is hard to pin down R&D costs for an approved drug because a company can spend billions on drugs that fail, and those costs wouldn’t be included.
Democrats have been much more vocal than Republicans on the issue, with both Sanders and Clinton outlining plans to tackle the issue. Sanders on Tuesday criticized the nominee to become the next Food and Drug Administration commissioner over drug prices.
On the Republican side, only Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has lashed out against the industry.
The poll was of 641 registered voters.
