Public Opinion

THE MIDTERMS

KFF Health Tracking Poll: MAHA and the Midterms

Chemical food additive and pesticide concerns associated with the Make America Health Again (MAHA) movement are shared broadly across the public. But when it comes to voters, health care costs are a higher priority and bigger motivator, even among MAHA supporters, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds. When asked to identify their most important health priority for government to address, far more MAHA-supporting voters identify lowering the cost of health care (42%) than other issues more closely associated with the movement.

For more on this topic, read KFF Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman's new Beyond the Data column: There Are Many MAHAs.

Poll: Health Care Costs and the Midterms

Health care costs continue to top the public’s list of affordability worries, even as concerns about gas prices have risen in recent weeks, with two-thirds of the public expressing worry over affording health care costs.

Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that many Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

Health Information and Trust

Dashboard: Polling on Health Information and Trust

Drawing on KFF’s poll findings, this interactive dashboard tracks the public’s trusted sources for health information, attitudes toward vaccines, and use of news, social media, and AI for health-related information.

Recent Polls

Public Views on Foreign Aid and Global Health

This poll finds that less than half of the public now wants the U.S. to play at least a major role in improving the health of people in developing countries. When asked about the administration’s changes to foreign aid and global health, more people perceive a negative impact than a positive one.

Knowledge and Views of Medication Abortion

This KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that many, including women of reproductive age, remain unfamiliar with key facts about mifepristone. Fewer than half of all adults say they believe abortion pills are safe now, compared to over half of all adults two years ago. This poll explores awareness and perception of the recent FDA review of the medication, and support for policies aimed at restricting it.

KFF/New York Times Survey of Immigrants

KFF-New York Times Survey: Immigrants Report Rising Fear, Negative Economic and Health Impacts, and Changing Political Views During the First Year of President Trump’s Second Term

The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first year of President Trump’s second term, including their worries related to increased immigration enforcement, their health and economic wellbeing, and the political views and preferences of immigrant voters. The survey paints a portrait of families under strain — where fear of detention and economic instability are negatively impacting immigrants’ health and reshaping immigrant families’ daily lives and views of U.S. political parties.

Read the News Release | Explore The New York Times’ Reporting

the essentials

Health Tracking Poll

Our signature survey project provides up-to-date data on the public’s health care views, knowledge, and experiences.

Tracking the Public’s Views on the ACA

Tracking the Public’s Views on the ACA

This interactive tool tracks public opinion on the Affordable Care Act, from the inception of the law to the present, including trends based on party identification, income, age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Health Information and Trust Tracking Poll

The Health Information and Trust Tracking Poll is part of KFF’s Health Information and Trust Initiative, which tracks health misinformation and analyzes its impact on the public.

Polls in Health Policy

This chapter of our digital “textbook” explores why surveys are essential for understanding health policy issues. 

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

Filter

1,031 - 1,040 of 1,840 Results

  • Pulling it Together: What We Know about Making the Case to the Public for Global Health

    From Drew Altman

    Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is a member of our Board, recently published a column making the case very effectively for continued investments in global health.  Today we released our latest national survey on attitudes towards global health, which uncovered important nuances about the argument for foreign aid and global health. When it comes to helping other countries with health, younger people are much more likely to be supportive than older people.  Perhaps…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — May 2012

    Feature

    The May Health Tracking Poll focuses on the public's perceptions and reactions to women's reproductive health reemerging as a heated issue in policy debates and news and its potential impact on the upcoming presidential election. Three in ten women (31 percent) overall believe that there is currently a "wide-scale effort to limit women's reproductive health choices and services, such as abortion, family planning, and contraception" in the U.S. A larger share (45 percent) say there…

  • Public Opinion on Gender Rating

    Perspective

    With the Republican presidential primaries wrapping up, a barrage of new television commercials, radio ads, and fundraising emails has marked the start of the general election campaign. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be a mainstay election topic for candidates from both major parties. While Republicans focus on advocating repeal of the 2010 health care law, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have concentrated on the benefits of the law. And one lesser…

  • 2012 Survey of Americans on the U.S. Role in Global Health

    Report

    The 2012 Survey of Americans on the U.S. Role in Global Health is the fourth in a series that aims to examine the American public’s views, knowledge and opinions of U.S. efforts to improve health for people in developing countries.

  • April Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Core Views on ACA Remain Stable After Oral Arguments

    Perspective

    The increased public attention to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) generated by the Supreme Court’s consideration of the law did not meaningfully change the public’s opinion of the law overall or of the specific provision at the heart of the legal case against it, the individual mandate. Forty-two percent say they have a favorable opinion of the law this month and 43 percent have an unfavorable one, a division virtually unchanged from March. Similarly, the…

  • Pulling It Together: The Falloff in Utilization: “There’s Something Happening, Here, What It Is Ain’t Exactly Clear”

    Perspective

    For as long as I have been in the field, we have seen cycles in health care costs. Per capita health spending would rise, then moderate, then rise gain. My colleague Larry Levitt and I documented this in The Sad History of Health Care Costs and my friend Dr. Jim Mongan called it “the peaks and valleys” of health care costs. We have never been sure whether the "valleys" were the result of government actions, such…

  • The Role of High-Income Seniors in Medicare Reforms: The Public’s Perspective

    Feature

    Medicare remains in the spotlight as policymakers and presidential candidates look for ways to rein in Medicare spending. One facet of the debate has centered on whether seniors with higher incomes should pay more for their coverage under Medicare. Based on data from the February 2012 Health Tracking Poll, this data note examines at what income level the public sees seniors as 'wealthy,' and finds that the answer has a lot to do with how…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — April 2012

    Feature

    The April poll gauged Americans' opinions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of the Supreme Court oral arguments in the legal challenges to the health reform law in March. The increased public attention to the Affordable Care Act generated by the Supreme Court's consideration of the law did not meaningfully change the public's opinion of the law overall or of the specific provision at the heart of critics' legal case against it,…

  • KFF Data Note: A Snapshot of Public Opinion on the Individual Mandate

    Perspective

    This week, the Supreme Court hears arguments on several challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the provision that requires individuals to purchase health insurance as of 2014, known as the individual mandate. For the two years since the law’s passage, and during the debate leading up to it, this provision has been one of the most controversial aspects of the law. As the lawyers, policymakers, ACA opponents and supporters focus…

  • Public Opinion on the ACA: Cruising or Turbulent Ride?

    Perspective

    Regular readers of the Kaiser Health Tracking poll know by now that public opinion on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been at a steady cruising altitude since it was signed into law on March 23, 2010, with a little over four in ten viewing the law favorably and a similar share unfavorably. But, has public opinion on the law since passage been more turbulent for different groups of Americans, for example, those with lower…