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Democrats Hold a Nearly 2-to-1 Advantage Over Republicans on Handling the Cost of Health Care

KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Issues in the Lead-Up to the 2026 Midterm Election 

With the 2026 midterms about a month away, health care costs remain tied with gas as voters’ top midterm concerns and the Democrats hold a clear edge over the Republicans Party on who voters trust to handle many top electoral issues, including the cost of health care and the cost of living. Two-thirds of U.S. adults now favor Medicare-for-all, a new high in KFF Polling, but support shifts when competing claims from critics and proponents are heard.

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RSVP for a virtual event featuring KFF public opinion experts providing insights on the latest polling about health care issues in advance of the midterms, including current public sentiment about Medicare-for-All. After the presentation, experts will take questions from attendees.

KFF/AP Survey of RURAL VOTERS

Health Information and Trust

About Half of Parents Mistakenly Believe Spacing Out Vaccines Is Healthier for Children; Half Say No Strong Evidence to Support Such a Claim

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Fall 2026 Update on Vaccine Views

The latest KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust finds about half of parents mistakenly believe spacing out vaccines is healthier for children, while confidence in many long-standing childhood vaccines is high across partisans. These findings take on new relevance following President Trump’s recent executive order calling for changes in U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations, including splitting the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—currently given as a single combined shot—into three separate vaccines across multiple visits.

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.

Health Tracking PollS

Mifepristone and the Midterms

Amid an ongoing FDA re-review of mifepristone, awareness of the safety and prevalence of the abortion pill remains limited. This KFF poll also finds that the voters who say abortion policy is an important issue for 2026 midterm candidates to discuss are disproportionately Democrats.

Ebola Response and Pandemic Preparedness

Much of the public has yet to form an opinion on the U.S. government’s response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this poll finds. Four in ten adults say the U.S. is less prepared for a pandemic now than it was in 2020.

Most Democratic Voters Want To Hear Candidates Discuss Health Costs and Future of Health Programs; More Republicans Focused on Fraud

Public Views on Fraud in Government Health Programs

As the 2026 midterms approach, health care costs remain voters’ top health priority, but fraud in government health programs, including Medicaid and Medicare, is resonating with Republican voters, 55% of whom say it’s extremely important for candidates to address.

MAHA and the Midterms

This KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that the cost of health care is a more prominent focus for Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) voters than issues like food and vaccine policy. Four in ten MAHA voters (42%) choose lowering health costs as the most important health priority, outranking other MAHA priorities.

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.

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  • Most Parents Don’t Want Their Schools to Require COVID-19 Vaccination, But Most Favor Requiring Masks for Unvaccinated Children and Staff

    News Release

    Worries about Long-Term and Serious Side Effects are Parents’ Top Concern; Hispanic and Black Parents Are More Likely than White Parents to Cite Access and Cost Issues As schools around the country prepare to reopen, a majority of parents of school-age children say they do not want their children’s schools to require students to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend in person classes, the latest KFF Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor report finds. This includes…

  • KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: Parents and the Pandemic

    Poll Finding

    This report examines attitudes and views of parents as children head back to school amidst the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant. Nearly half of parents of children ages 12-17, who are currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, say their child has already been vaccinated or will get the vaccine right away. The report examines parents' vaccine concerns and attitudes towards vaccine and mask mandates in schools.

  • KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: July 2021

    Poll Finding

    This Vaccine Monitor report finds little change since June in the share of adults who either received a COVID-19 vaccine or say they will as soon as they can. A quarter of unvaccinated adults say they likely will get a shot by the end of the year. Unvaccinated adults are much less worried than vaccinated ones about the Delta variant.

  • Most Unvaccinated Adults Don’t Believe the Vaccines are Very Effective and See the Vaccines as a Greater Health Risk than COVID-19 Itself

    News Release

    Vaccinated Adults Are Nearly Twice as Likely as Unvaccinated Ones to Worry that New Variants Like Delta Will Worsen the Pandemic Nationally and Locally As public health officials struggle to boost vaccination rates nationally, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor reports that a narrow majority (53%) of unvaccinated adults believe the vaccine poses a bigger risk to their health than COVID-19 itself. In contrast, an overwhelming majority (88%) of vaccinated adults say that getting infected…

  • Health and Health Care Experiences of Hispanic Adults

    Poll Finding

    The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated longstanding underlying disparities in health and health care facing Hispanic people. Using data from the COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, this report provides insights into the health care experiences of Hispanic adults and examines how they vary by key factors, including insurance and immigration status.

  • Vaccine Monitor: Some Who Were Hesitant to Get a Vaccine in January Say They Changed Their Mind Because of Family, Friends and Their Personal Doctors

    News Release

    A new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report finds that people who were initially hesitant to get a vaccine in January but ultimately did so often say that family, friends and their personal doctors helped change their minds. The report features a second round of interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults six months after they first shared their vaccine intentions in January, early in the nation’s vaccine distribution effort. The new survey assesses whether…

  • KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: In Their Own Words, Six Months Later

    Poll Finding

    This report features a second round of interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults six months after they first shared their vaccine intentions in January to assess whether or not they got a COVID-19 vaccine, the reasons behind their choice, and how they feel about their decision.

  • Workers Are More Likely to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine When Their Employers Encourage It and Provide Paid Sick Leave, Though Most Workers Don’t Want Their Employers to Require It

    News Release

    A Third of Parents with Kids Ages 12-17 Report Their Kids Are Now Vaccinated; Most Parents Oppose Mandatory Vaccinations for School Children As more employers return to in-person work, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report shows that workers are more likely to have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine when their employer encourages it or provides paid sick leave to get the vaccine and recover from side effects. About two-thirds of workers report that their employer…

  • KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: June 2021

    Poll Finding

    This report shows a slowdown in self-reported COVID-19 vaccination rates, with 65% of adults saying in June that they’ve gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The report also examines the role of employers in encouraging and incentivizing workers to get vaccinated and parents' vaccine intentions for their children.

  • Poll: Few are Aware of Hospital Price Transparency Requirements

    News Release

    Few Americans realize that starting this year hospitals are required to post prices of common health services on their websites in a format patients can access and use, data from the KFF Health Tracking poll shows. Federal regulations that took effect January 1 require this price transparency for hospitals to allow patients to compare prices across hospitals and “shop” for lower-price care. The new survey data finds that 9% of adults nationwide are aware that…