During a Tuesday “Fox & Friends” segment, host Lawrence Jones advised President Donald Trump to ignore the issue of health care, even though voters have expressed that it’s a key issue heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
“I keep hearing this talking point from the Democrats—that the next election is going to be about health care, that the president has to solve that,” Jones said. “I think that’s a trap. I mean, the health care system is such a muddy mess, I think you’ve just got to focus on affordability. The president has to focus on that.”
Jones added that, when he “talks to people,” they occasionally bring up health care but are mostly just interested in paying less for groceries and gasoline.
“They’re not talking on a day-to-day basis about health care, so don’t fall in that trap, it’s going to be a muddy mess. Focus on people’s day-to-day lives—what they can afford,” he concluded.
House Democrats give a press conference on the GOP’s government shutdown and its impacts on health care on Oct. 22.
If Trump follows Jones’ advice—and given that “Fox & Friends” is reportedly one of Trump’s favorite shows, he very well might—he will be giving short shrift to an issue that voters say is significant to them.
In a KFF health tracking poll from Oct. 27 through Nov. 2, 49% of respondents said that an increase in health care costs would have a “major” impact on their vote in the midterms, compared to 35% who said it would have “no” impact.
The issue was of particular importance to Democrats at 59% and independents at 54%, but even 32% of Republicans said it would majorly influence their vote.
The poll also shows that Republicans are underwater when it comes to voters trusting them to address health care costs, with 39% of respondents saying they trust Democrats and 33% saying they trust Republicans. And the Democratic edge grew to an 11-point margin when voters were asked who they trust to protect the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans have spent decades attacking efforts to expand health care coverage, which came to a fever pitch when the ACA became law in 2010. The right has spent more than a decade trying to kill the program, even as it has increased in popularity.
In fact, following the recent vote to reopen the federal government, Senate Republicans marched in lockstep Monday night to kill an amendment that would extend ACA subsidies and prevent double-digit premium increases.
The GOP has a health care problem, but it doesn’t seem interested in remedying that any time soon. And Fox’s solution is to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist—which may work out fine for the network but will surely bite Republican leaders in the ass.
