One again, healthcare costs are at the top of the list of the American public's concerns heading into the 2020 election. According to a new Politico-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health survey, 80% of those surveyed ranked "taking steps to lower the cost of health care" as "extremely" or "very" important, including 89% of Democrats and 76% of Republicans. Bringing down prescription drug costs ranked as the second-most important issue, followed by "increasing federal spending on K-12 public education, and increasing efforts to reduce the number of hate crimes committed against people because of their race, religion, or gender." Climate changed rated just out of the top 10 issues at No. 11 on the list of 22 issues presented.
Interestingly, the top two issues for those who identify themselves as Democrats and Republicans are reducing healthcare costs and reducing prescription drug costs. Not at all shockingly, restricting immigration is No. 3 for Republicans, but they're outnumbered by everyone else who wants well-funded public education and the stopping of hate crimes. "Even among Democrats, the top issues are pocketbook issues—not the big system reform debates," Robert Blendon, who helped design the poll, told Politico."They're worried about their own lives, their own payments, and what they can afford." What's happening right now in their own families supersedes other concerns, as usual. Whether or not that budges a recalcitrant Mitch McConnell into action remains to be seen.
The immediacy of paying healthcare bills right now takes precedence over even the most drastic of issues, such as climate change. For example, two-thirds of respondents said they'd been following the Australian wildfires at least somewhat closely, and more than half said they related it to climate change. Mostly because the majority of Republicans continue to blow off global warming, 56% of them said the wildfires were not related to climate change. Almost two-thirds say that they don't expect to ever be displaced by wildfire, pushing the immediacy of the issue down. Other aspects of climate change—severe weather, droughts, etc.—weren't included in the survey.
That keeps health care at the top. Interestingly, Medicare buy-in comes in at No. 6 and gets 43% of Republicans, so continuing to talk about expanding the healthcare system through Medicare—even including Medicare for All—is moving people into being comfortable with the whole idea.