Voters Back Medicare Expansion: Poll
A majority of voters support the idea of allowing citizens under the age of 65 to buy into Medicare, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday. About two-thirds of voters surveyed – and 78% of Democrats – said they back such an option.
However, a more ambitious single-payer Medicare-for-All style system that would eliminate private insurers is not backed by a majority of voters, though it does get support from a majority of Democrats. Overall, 41% of voters said they support a Medicare-for-All system, while 63% of Democrats expressed support.
In other policy areas, a majority of voters indicated that they support making tuition free at state colleges and universities, allowing young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country, and forgiving student debt after 15 years. At the same time, a majority of voters opposed providing government health care to undocumented immigrants. And a record proportion of voters – 69% – said they disliked President Trump personally.
Why it matters: The poll suggests that voters are interested in many of the ideas being discussed by Democratic presidential candidates but have doubts about the most progressive ones, such as eliminating private health insurance.
The poll of 900 registered voters was conducted between September 13 and 16, with a margin of error of 3.27%.
