Editor's note: This study was conducted in partnership with West Health, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focused on health care and aging.
WASHINGTON, DC — Nearly 8 in 10 registered voters in the United States say health care is an extremely important (37%) or very important (42%) issue in their vote in this year's presidential election. These numbers are similar to what Gallup has measured in most past elections, except that slightly more voters rated health care as very important in 2000 and 2012.
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Gallup partnered with West Health to measure the potential impact of health care as a voting issue in the 2024 election. The findings are part of a broader Gallup survey of registered U.S. voters on election issues conducted between September 16 and 28. Health care is in the second tier of voting issues in the United States this year, behind the economy and democracy. Other issues comparable to health care include terrorism and national security, the Supreme Court, immigration, and education.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans or independents to rate health care as an important voting issue, with 90% of Democrats saying health care is extremely (45%) or very (45%) important to their vote. The answer is yes. This compares to 72% of Republicans (34% say it's very important) and 77% of independents (34% say it's very important).
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Older Americans, who are more likely to use health care services in general, also rate health care as having a greater influence on their presidential vote than younger Americans. 86% of voters ages 65 and older say health care will be a very (40%) or very (46%) voting issue for them, compared to 80% of voters are over 65 years old and 75% are under 45 years old.
Age appears to have a slight effect on the importance of health care across party affiliation, with older Republican and Democratic voters saying health care is an important issue more than younger voters with the same political leanings. There is a high possibility that it will.
Consistent with demographic patterns in past presidential election years, health care is a voting issue for several other voter subgroups, including women (particularly older women), people of color, low-income Americans, and urban residents. It exceeds the national average in terms of importance. All of these groups tend to lean toward the Democratic Party, suggesting that party affiliation is a driving force behind increased interest in health care as an election issue.
Voters perceive Harris to be better than Trump on this issue.
By a margin of 54% to 44%, registered voters think Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will do a better job on health care than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The main reason for this advantage is that political independents believe Harris has an 11 point advantage on this issue (54% to 43%).
An overwhelming majority of both parties think their party's candidate is better on this issue, but among Democrats Harris (96%) outranks Trump (87%) among Republicans. better than.
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Harris' lead on health care is consistent with previous Gallup polls on the issue. In past presidential elections asked by Gallup, U.S. voters consistently chose Democratic candidates as better than Republican candidates on health care.
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Recent election years since 2004 have narrowed the Democratic advantage compared to the 1992-2000 elections. This is largely because more Republicans and independents think the Republican candidate is better on health care than before. Specifically, in elections since 2004, an average of 84% of Republicans and 39% of independents chose the Republican presidential candidate as having better health care, but in presidential elections from 1992 to 2000, , averaged 69% and 25%, respectively.
conclusion
Health care, along with the economy, education, and terrorism, is an issue that consistently ranks as one of the most important election issues for voters. This speaks to the impact these issues have on Americans' daily lives, regardless of the specifics of a particular election year.
Slightly fewer voters identified health care as a very important issue this year than in some past election years. But Americans also say health care isn't getting enough attention during the 2024 presidential campaign.
In what is expected to be a close election, health care could ultimately prove decisive. It's an issue that generally favors Democrats, although not as much as it did in the 1990s or 2000.
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View complete question answers and trends (PDF download).
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