Health Care Among Top Issues For Independent Voters
As the 2008 presidential election approaches, Americans who are not aligned with either the Democrats or the Republicans are increasingly citing health care as one of the leading issues likely to influence their voting decisions, according to a report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The report was based on an analysis of the results of a survey conducted by the Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard University Survey Project of 2,140 randomly selected U.S. adults, including an oversample of randomly selected self-identified political independents. The views of independents, who make up around 29% of the electorate, tend to fall somewhere between those of Democrats and Republicans, the study’s authors observed. When asked to name the issues or problems they believe the president and Congress should address, 66% of all the independents surveyed said Iraq, 19% said immigration, and 18% cited health care. By comparison, the study found, health care was cited as a pressing issue by 20% of the Democrats surveyed and by 12% of the Republicans.
When asked which issues are extremely important to them personally, health care was cited by 48% of the Democrats surveyed, 31% of the Republicans, and 41% of the independents. Results further showed that independents are more than twice as likely to say their views on health care are better reflected by the Democrats than by the Republicans: When asked which party does a better job representing their views on health care, the independents surveyed favored the Democrats over the Republicans by 28 percentage points.
Respondents of all parties were also asked whether, when it comes to health care, political candidates should focus more on lowering the cost of health care and insurance or on expanding health insurance coverage to people who are uninsured. The survey showed that 53% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats favor lowering costs, while 30% of Republicans and 48% of Democrats support expanding health insurance coverage. Among all the independents surveyed, 47% said they want candidates to focus on lowering costs, while 41% want politicians to cover the uninsured.
When asked if they would be willing to pay more in health insurance premiums or higher taxes to cover the uninsured, 26% of Republicans, 49% of Democrats, and 41% of all the independents surveyed said they would.
