Voters in swing states rate health care more important than abortion, according to new results released a week before Election Day.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump spent much of this election talking about abortion since 2024 is the first presidential election year since the Supreme Court ruled to change it. Roe v. Wade.
But the new poll shows that broader health care issues, such as health insurance and the cost of prescription drugs, may be more important to voters than the war on abortion.
While the economy and inflation are always key topics in several elections, health care is also a top priority for voters, especially in developing countries.
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According to a new study from Washington Post-Schar School of likely voters in swing states, health care is number 4 on the list of the 12 most important issues this election season. Abortion was ranked seventh.
About 55% of voters surveyed said health care was “very important,” and 28% said it was “very important.” In contrast, only 44% of respondents said abortion was “very important,” and 22% said it was “very important.”
Only 3% of respondents said health care was not an important issue in the election, compared to 15% of voters who said abortion was not an issue.
The President’s campaign on health care and abortion
Health care has played a major role in the Harris campaign in part because of its participation in the Biden administration’s efforts through the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce the cost of drugs for the elderly on Medicare.
Harris has struggled to create a new identity for himself on health insurance since his failed 2020 bid for the Democratic nomination due to his support for Medicare for All.
The vice president has been eager to improve Medicare benefits, including a review of home health care, and tough drug price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. He has also promised to forgive medical debt for about 15 million people who collectively owe about $220 billion in unpaid medical and dental bills.
So far, Trump’s biggest hit on health care this season was his announcement during a debate with Harris in September that he had an “idea for a plan” to fix Obamacare.
Vice President Trump, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), came prepared to make those points during his second presidential debate with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). Vance said Trump does not want to end coverage of the past and highlighted what has happened with the Trump administration.
But the health-related topic that has been the focus of this season is abortion, which Harris has made a cornerstone of his campaign strategy since winning the Democrats’ elections in 2022 and 2023 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse it. Roe v. Wade.
To some extent, Trump has had to act defensively on abortion, shifting the national GOP’s views away from abortion and making it a federal issue and promising not to sign any federal abortion bans.
More than half, 51%, of those surveyed this month Washington Post-The Schar School survey believed that Harris would do a better job on abortion compared to 29% who said the same about Trump.
Nearly half of respondents, 46%, said they believed Harris would do a good job handling health care issues compared to 36% for Trump.
Split on the swing world
The opinion of abortion as an important issue rises slightly compared to the latter Washington Post-A Schar School survey in May, where only 41% of voters said the issue was “very important.”
The survey did not report separate election results from each of the swing states, but the differences in the September election results suggest that voters in swing states are less concerned about abortion than other issues in the election.
A New York Times –A Siena College poll from September found that only 18% of Arizonans think abortion is their number one issue. Only 16% of voters in Georgia and 13% in North Carolina said that abortion is very difficult.
A different September New York Times –A Siena College poll found that 14% of Nevada voters said abortion was the most important issue, tied with immigration.
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In Pennsylvania, 49% of voters in a Spotlight PA-A September MassINC poll showed concern about reproductive rights, with 41% saying health care is also important. The election did not ask voters to rank issues as important.
Even so, health care is not ranked as the No. 1 issue. 1 for voters in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, or Nevada in New York Times –Siena College vote, beyond financial crisis. This suggests that, although an important topic, healthcare alone may not be a motivator for voters alone.
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