Health care tops the list of issues that voters consider important going into the 2020 elections, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll.
The nationwide survey, published Thursday, found that 15 percent of registered voters across the U.S. said health care is “is the most important issue facing the nation today.”
Another 12 percent named national security, particularly regarding terrorism. Immigration and the economy each received 10 percent, while climate change came in fourth on the list at 8 percent.
“Medicare for all” has become a divisive issue within the Democratic primary, where White House hopefuls have fought over the liberal health care plan and its related costs.
Progressive presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have been vocal supporters of Medicare for all and getting rid of private insurance.
Other top contenders in the race, such as former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have said they prefer expanding ObamaCare, adding a public option to the existing private market.
Medicare for all has also begun to gain ground in the Democratic Party as a whole.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last Friday that the Affordable Care Act could provide a “path to Medicare for all” after previously saying that she was “not a big fan.”
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted among 1,000 registered voters from Dec. 8 to 9. Its results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
—Tess Bonn
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