Selected Measures About Health Care in the 2024 Election

SSRS - Robert J. Blendon Poll

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A new SSRS – Robert J. Blendon poll finds that high health care costs, drug prices, and large medical bills are the dominant health care issues in the 2024 election cycle. Nearly half (46%) of U.S. adults cite high health care costs and drug prices the most important health care issue; another 13% consider the problem of large medical bills to be most important.

These findings are part of an SSRS – Robert J. Blendon study conducted on the SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus August 2 – 5, 2024, among a nationally representative sample of 1,035 adults aged 18 and older.

The Public’s Ranking of the Most Important Health Care Issues in the 2024 Election

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon chart 1

The Public’s Confidence in Key Health Institutions

The SSRS – Blendon poll also finds large differences between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to confidence in key health institutions. The majority of Democrats rate the job done by the CDC (82%), NIH (77%), FDA (70%), and WHO (71%) positively (excellent or good). The majority of Republicans see the performance of each of these institutions negatively (only fair or poor): CDC (60%), NIH (56%), FDA (55%), WHO (71%).

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon chart 2

In terms of the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been the subject of congressional investigation, the majority of the Republicans believe that it came from a laboratory leak in China (87%), whereas Democrats are evenly divided on what the causation for the epidemic might be.

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon chart 3

In addition, Democrats (51%) are more likely than Republicans (13%) to trust public health institutions a great deal or quite a lot to manage a future pandemic. The majority of Republicans (58%) trust them not too much or not at all.

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon chart 4

The Public’s Support for Increases in Future Health Spending

The SSRS – Blendon poll also shows that Democrats and Republicans differ significantly as to their preferences for future health spending. Democrats favor higher levels of spending for major domestic health programs and agencies. These include veterans’ medical care (77%), Medicare (74%), the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (73%), the NIH for medical research (68%), the CDC (68%), Medicaid (66%), Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programs (SNAP) (65%), and the FDA (57%).

At the same time, Republicans support increased spending only on veterans’ medical care (79%) and Medicare (59%). Over a third of Republicans favor spending less on the ACA (43%) and the CDC (35%).

When it comes to support for global health activities, neither party supports increases in spending. However, the majority of Democrats support keeping spending at least at the current level, while the majority of Republicans (64%) favor reducing current spending in this area.

The Public’s Support for Future U.S. Government Health Spending

U.S. Government Should Spend More, Less, or About the Same as it Does Now On…

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon table 5

Question Wording

Question 1

Q1. In the future, do you think the U.S. government should spend more, less, or about the same as it does now on each of the following? (Randomize items)

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon table 6

Question 2

Q2. Which one of the following is the most important health care issue for you in the 2024 election? (Randomize items)

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon table 7

Question 3

Q3. How would you rate the job being done by…(insert each item; randomize items): Excellent, good, only fair, or poor?

Health care and the 2024 election SSRS_Blendon table 8

Question 4

Q4. How much do you trust public health institutions in the U.S. to manage another potential pandemic in the future? A great deal, quite a lot, not too much, or not at all?

Question 5

Q5. Thinking about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which do you think is more likely: (rotate) It was caused by a laboratory leak in China; [or] It was caused by a natural transmission from animals to humans?

Question 1

Q1. In the future, do you think the U.S. government should spend more, less, or about the same as it does now on each of the following? (Randomize items)

Question 2

Q2. Which one of the following is the most important health care issue for you in the 2024 election? (Randomize items)

Question 3

Q3. How would you rate the job being done by…(insert each item; randomize items): Excellent, good, only fair, or poor?

Question 4

Q4. How much do you trust public health institutions in the U.S. to manage another potential pandemic in the future? A great deal, quite a lot, not too much, or not at all?

Question 5

About Robert J. Blendon

Robert J. Blendon is the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis, Emeritus and former Director for the Division of Policy Translation and Leadership Development at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He previously held appointments as a Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He formerly directed the Harvard Opinion Research Program and co-directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health project on understanding Americans’ Health Agenda. Previously, he co-directed a polling series with The Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation.

Blendon was senior vice-president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, he has served as a senior faculty member for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Governors’ Association, and the U.S. Congress Committee on Ways and Means.

Between 1987 and 1996, Blendon served as Chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and as Deputy Director of the Harvard University Division of Health Policy Research and Education.

Blendon formerly taught a course on Political Strategy in U.S. Health Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He also directed the Political Analysis track in the University’s Ph.D. Program in Health Policy.

For 2023 and 2024, Blendon is a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC.

Blendon is a graduate of Marietta College and of the School of Business at the University of Chicago, with a master’s in business administration. In addition, he holds a Doctoral degree (DSc) from the School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University (1969), where his principal attention was directed toward health policy. He also received an honorary degree from Harvard University (M.A. 1987).

Methodology

Interviews for this SSRS – Robert J. Blendon study were conducted on the SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus August 2 – 5, 2024, among a nationally representative sample of 1,035 respondents aged 18 and older. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The design effect is 1.38. All SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus data are weighted to represent the target population of U.S. adults ages 18 or older.

The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is conducted on the SSRS Opinion Panel. SSRS Opinion Panel members are recruited randomly based on a nationally representative ABS (Address Based Sample) design (including Hawaii and Alaska). ABS respondents are randomly sampled by Marketing Systems Group (MSG) through the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence File (CDS), a regularly updated listing of all known addresses in the U.S. For the SSRS Opinion Panel, known business addresses are excluded from the sample frame.
The SSRS Opinion Panel is a multi-mode panel (web and phone). Most panelists take self-administered web surveys; however, the option to take surveys conducted by a live telephone interviewer is available to those who do not use the internet as well as those who use the internet but are reluctant to take surveys online. All sample drawn for this study were SSRS Opinion Panelists who are U.S. adults ages 18 or older. Sample was selected to ensure representation by age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, Census region, and party identification. Possible sources of non-sampling error include non-response bias, as well as question wording and ordering effects.

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Selected Measures About Health Care in the 2024 Election

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