Beyond women’s health and abortion politics, most Americans are looking for more health care baked into the 2024 Elections, based on a new poll from Gallup in collaboration with West Health.

 

 

 

 

 

Two in three U.S. adults thought health care was not receiving enough attention during the 2024 Presidential campaign as of September 2024. This is a majority shared opinion for voters across the three party IDs in the U.S., shown in the first bar graph.

The research polled 3,660 U.S. adults in September, about two-thirds before the presidential debate held September 10, and about one-third after it.

 

 

 

 

 

The issues having most importance among Americans seeking greater health care policy attention in the 2024 Elections — which could sway their vote for President — were,

  • Protecting Medicare and Social Security for 63% of people for whom this was of top importance
  • Reducing the cost of healthcare, for 57% of U.S. adults
  • Lowering drug costs, for 47%, and,
  • Policies related to mental healthcare access, cited by 43% of Americans as a top issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  I recently brainstormed the concept of health citizenship with Aaron Strout on the Real Chemistry podcast.

(I wrote a book on Health Citizenship because I feel so strongly about it as a key to engaging people in co-creating a better U.S. health care system).

We discussed how health care is a mainstream kitchen-table issue in the U.S., with affordability a driving force as well as health security — for Medicare and Social Security in aging — and growing stressors driving mental health demand and access challenges.

The last chart here arrays the key issues swaying peoples’ Presidential choices in 2024, by demographics — age and political party ID. Affordability of the cost of health care garners majorities across ages, as well as protecting Medicare and Social Security — even attracting 50% of the youngest 18-49 year old cohort of voters. (Given that 50 is the entry-age for AARP membership, 49 isn’t so far afield…).

While most Democrats are more engaged in all of these issues, Medicare and Society Security attract most Republicans and Independents in terms of Presidential selection, and lowering drug costs and reducing overall health care costs attract pluralities of non-Democrats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to which Presidential candidate to trust to handle each of the issues, more Democrats demonstrate greater confidence supporting Kamala Harris to improve access to care and coverage, increase quality of care, lower the cost of prescription drugs, lower the overall cost of health care, and protect or strengthen Medicare than do Republicans’ trust in Donald Trump to do so as President.

More Independents than Republicans trust Kamala Harris on the issues, although Independents are also more likely to not trust either candidate.