As the 2016 Presidential Election is well underway, voters across political parties have chosen which issues affect their voting decisions the most. These issues were reflected in a two-week March poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation from March 7, 2016 to March 14, 2016. The poll was conducted via landline and mobile device with 1,201 English and Spanish sample voters selected at random. The results reflect a wide variety of issues, broken down by percentage, including Immigration, Economy/Jobs, Government Spending, and of course Health Care.
For Democratic voters, Health Care ranks highest in voting issues at 43%, while Independent voters view Health Care at 30%, with the Economy/Jobs ranking highest at 37%. Republican voters place Terrorism as their greatest voting issue at 53%, with Health Care falling lower on the scale at 37%.
The median total for placing Health Care at a very high concern across political parties is 36% of voters, further broken down to female voters placing a higher concern for Health Care than male voters.
As women’s reproductive health remains a hot topic, 34% feel there is a “wide-scale effort to limit women’s reproductive health choices and services,” while 46% acknowledge the move for limitations but do not consider them widespread. 40% of women feel the limitations are widespread, while only 28% of men feel it is widespread. Further, 51% of Democrats feel the limitations are widespread, 31% of Independents, and 21% of Republicans. Overall, 25% view these limitations as “bad,” while 7% considering them “good.”
As for the candidates, Democratic voters place Hillary Clinton in the lead at 62% for women’s reproductive health choices, with Bernie Sanders at 23%. Republican voters list Clinton at 9% and Sanders at 5%, yet Trump at 26%, Cruz at 21%, and Kasich at 7%. Independent voters place Clinton at 22%, Sanders at 20%, Trump at 8%, Cruz at 7%, and Kasich at 4%.
With regard to the Affordable Care Act, stats are surprising. Three out of every ten voters (30% of the sample) referenced the Affordable Care Act. However, only 7% viewed it favorably, while 21% opposed it. 48% attempted to obtain health care coverage but found it to be too expensive, 14% were unable to obtain coverage despite an attempt, while 8% were unaware of mandatory health care coverage, 6% felt the mandate didn’t apply to them directly, and 5% acknowledge the mandate but would rather pay penalties than obtain coverage. 41% of sample voters found health care to be favorable, while 47% found it to be unfavorable. 52% feel that health care laws have not affected them, while 28% say they’ve been hurt by health care laws and 18% state they’ve been helped.
You can view the poll results in their entirety at KFF's webpage here.