Public Opinion and Survey Research

This partnership poll from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the long-term use of prescription painkillers by exploring the views and experiences of adults 18 and over who they themselves, or a household member, have taken strong prescription painkillers for a period of two months or more at some time in the past two years, other than to treat pain from cancer or terminal illness. The survey takes a closer look at long-term users of prescription painkillers to better understand how they started taking these drugs, their interactions with medical providers, their concerns and experiences with addiction, and their views of efforts to stem the abuse of painkillers.

The Kaiser Health Policy News Index is designed to help journalists and policymakers better understand which health policy-related news stories Americans are following, and what the public knows about health policy issues covered in the news. This analysis examines the top health policy news stories in 2016.

In context of the rapidly growing number of older adults in the U.S. and increasing challenges that this population faces, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a large scale, nationally representative telephone survey to better understand people’s expectations about later life and efforts they’ve taken to plan for if they become seriously ill. To learn more about the experiences of those with serious illness specifically, this survey also included interviews with adults who are either personally age 65 or older living with a serious illness, or have an older family member who is or was before they recently died.

Poll Reveals a Deep Partisan Divide in Perceptions, with Republicans Much More Likely Than Democrats and Independents to View the Federal Government’s Response Favorably As President Trump threatens to scale back the federal response to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria, most Americans say that Puerto Ricans affected by…

The survey gauges the public’s knowledge and views about Puerto Rico’s recovery efforts following the devastating category 4 hurricane that struck Sept. 20. Most Americans say that Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria are not yet getting the help they need, and about half say that the federal government has been too slow to respond and is not doing enough to restore electricity and access to food and water. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats or independents to view the federal response as appropriate.

The latest Kaiser Family Foundation/CNN partnership poll explores the views and experiences of white Americans without college degrees (a group defined in this survey as “working-class whites”), including how they feel about their own lives and the direction of the country, their attitudes towards government, their economic priorities, feelings about immigration and increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and personal experiences with employment and finances.

On the cusp of the 2016 presidential election, the latest Kaiser Family Foundation/CNN partnership poll explores the views and experiences of white Americans without college degrees (a group defined in this survey as “working-class whites”), including how they feel about their own lives and the direction of the country, their attitudes towards government, their economic priorities, feelings about immigration and increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and personal experiences with employment and finances.

A decade after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and flood waters breached levees to cause unprecedented destruction in New Orleans, the Kaiser Family Foundation has teamed with NPR to survey current residents on the city’s recovery efforts and lingering challenges. The new survey adds to findings from a series of…

A decade after Hurricane Katrina hit, a 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation/NPR survey finds a racial divide in how New Orleans residents perceive the city’s recovery. African-Americans continue to lag far behind Whites, both in their views of how much progress has been made and in the rates at which they report continuing struggles.