Poll: ‘Medicare for All’ Unpopular in Battleground States – Even Among Democrats

Centrist Democrat think tank Third Way found that voters populating three battleground states are largely opposed to Medicare for All.

While Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have turned “Medicare for All” into a rallying cry in their 2020 campaigns, many voters on the left refuse to flock to that banner. A Third Way poll found in the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, socialized medicine is viewed just as critically as President Donald Trump’s Affordable Care Act replacement strategy.

Support for a socialistic approach to our national health care crisis was in a minority 47% in Wisconsin, with even more anemic 41% and 40% in Michigan and Pennsylvania, respectively. The poll did not, however, ask about the “public option” alternative championed by former Vice President Joe Biden.

Third Way polled over 3,500 moderate Democrats, a significant majority of which were Pennsylvanian. Results aligned with previous findings by joint polling from Cook Political Report and the Kaiser Family Foundation: while a majority on the left support Medicare for All, swing voters generally do not.

The poll also found that most voters questioned believe the middle class will be forced to foot the bill for socializing the American healthcare system, though supporters continue to argue that the tax burden would be offset by the elimination of insurance premiums and deductibles.

The bottom line: if either of the two popular progressive candidates manages to clinch the nomination, their complete overhaul of U.S. health care may be a hard sell — even to their base.