The new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 finds that one in four Americans continues to struggle with paying for health care. Health care ranks as a “serious problem” above paying for food (18 percent), problems with debt (16 percent), and paying the rent or mortgage (15 percent), but below paying for gas (37 percent) or getting a good-paying job or raise in pay (26 percent). Among the 24 percent who find paying for health care or health insurance a serious problem, those in the poorest health and those with the most need disproportionately report difficulties, with 50 percent of the uninsured reporting that paying for health care is a serious problem.
The August poll, the ninth in a new series designed and analyzed by the foundation’s public opinion research team, also examines public perception of the major presidential candidates’ positions on health care and reform. When voters were asked which candidate “would be more likely to make healthcare reform a top priority,” roughly three times as many voters mention presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (58 percent) as they do presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (20 percent). A majority (56 percent) of independent voters and even three in 10 (29 percent) Republicans say they think Obama would be more likely to make health reform a top priority.
Health care is holding its position among the top voting issues according to the tracking poll, but is not a dominant voting issue. The economy (49 percent) is far and away the top voting issue, with Iraq (25 percent), gas prices (18 percent), and health care (16 percent) rounding out the top four. Access the key findings.
