Health care tops Americans' 2020 election priorities, new Fox News poll shows
Americans are concerned about the future of the U.S. health care system.
According to a new Fox News poll released on Wednesday, health care was named as the most important issue voters were taking into consideration when sizing up presidential candidates for the 2020 election.
Ten percent of people named the issue as a “deal-breaker” when choosing between nominees. How to handle the challenge of health care is an issue that is not only dividing politicians – but voters, too. According to the Fox News poll, 68 percent of people said they support expanding the Medicare program so that everyone has the option to buy in – if they choose to. Twenty-four percent of respondents opposed that measure, which is generally supported by more moderate Democratic candidates.
Meanwhile, 57 percent of people supported making minor changes to ObamaCare – a policy peddled by Democratic frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden (compared to 34 percent in opposition). Biden said during the most recent debate, he was “for [President] Barack [Obama],” adding that “ObamaCare worked.”
Slightly more respondents than not said they do not favor eliminating private insurance altogether (48 percent to 46 percent) – as proposed in Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ "Medicare for All" plan, which is also endorsed by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Closely following health care, participants in the poll feel that gun control and immigration -- both tied for nine percent -- are the second most important issues in the upcoming election. Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke made headlines during the last Democratic debate for saying he would take away people’s weapons, while advocating for a mandatory buyback program. President Trump on Wednesday called O’Rourke a “dummy” for making that comment, which he alleged made it harder to pass gun-control legislation on Capitol Hill.
And when it comes to who Americans think will win the 2020 election – a majority of respondents (46 percent) thought Trump would be re-elected, compared with 40 percent who did not. Confidence in Trump’s re-election rose from 39 percent in Dec. 2018 – when more people thought he would lose the 2020 vote.
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The poll was conducted between Sept. 15-17, 2019, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,008 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters and 5 points for Republican primary voters (341).