Poll of the Day: Sanders Has the Edge on Health Care
Health Care

Poll of the Day: Sanders Has the Edge on Health Care

AARON P. BERNSTEIN

Potential Democratic primary voters give Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders the edge over his rivals for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination when it comes to understanding and dealing with health care, a new poll from Politico and Morning Consult finds.

One in four potential primary voters say that Sanders “has the best understanding of the problems with the U.S. health care system,” compared to 19% for Biden and 18% for Sen. Elizabeth Warren. A similar percentage said Sanders “is most qualified to solve the problems with the existing U.S. health care system.”

The voters polled also ranked health care as their most important policy issue, ahead of the economy and what pollsters termed “seniors issues” like Medicare and Social Security.

Sanders, of course, has championed a transition to a single-payer “Medicare for All” system under which every American would be enrolled in a government-run insurance plan. His plan has been at the center of Democratic debates over health care, with moderate rivals arguing against its proposed elimination of private insurance, among other criticisms.

Many voters who watched at least one night of last month’s Democratic primary debates want to hear more about both Medicare for All and the Affordable Care Act, with 34% saying the single-payer plan wasn’t discussed enough and 37% saying the Obama health care law should have been discussed more. Three in ten voters said Medicare for All was discussed too much, while 19% said the ACA was given too much time.

The poll of 797 potential Democratic primary voters was conducted August 1 to 3 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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