WASHINGTON (AP) — Large majorities of young Americans want to see an expansion of government services, including a single-payer health care program, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV.
According to the poll, 69 percent of young Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 favor a national health plan, known as a single-payer program. Eighty-eight percent of young Democrats and 40 percent of young Republicans favor a government-run health insurance program, according to the poll. Roughly two-thirds of young independents are in favor.
Young Americans called health care a very important issue in deciding how to vote. Sixty-two percent of those who will be old enough to vote in the midterms rated it as such. That’s the most who said the same of any issue in the poll, including immigration and the economy.
Thirty-three-year-old Jasmine Miller, of Detroit, said that she pays $800 a month for health insurance to cover herself and her son. Miller, who describes herself as a humanitarian, said that health care is among the issues she cares about most.
“It should be a universal standard for health care,” said Miller, who prefers Democrats. “If we do have to pay deductibles, at least let our premiums be lower.”
Christopher Edwards, 28, of Columbia, Missouri, said health care was among the most important issues for him as he looks ahead to the midterms.
“People sometimes get sick, and sometimes medicine is what they need,” said Edwards, who described himself as a moderate Democrat.
Majorities of young Americans also favor other types of expansion of government service, including free public college and trade school. Sixty-six percent of young Americans say they support free public college tuition. Seventy-nine percent of young Democrats and 39 percent of young Republicans are in favor. Among independents, 72 percent said they supported free tuition.
Younger people typically do not turn out for midterm elections in great numbers. According to the new poll, more than half of young voters say voting in the upcoming midterms is very important, but just 32 percent of those who will be old enough say they’re certain to cast a ballot.
Jannette Ramirez, 27, of Winter Haven, Florida, said she would “probably” vote in November’s elections, but she was unsure how much impact her vote would have.
“I can vote all day long, every day, 30 times a day and still my opinion wouldn’t matter,” said Ramirez, who described herself as a political moderate.
Liberal Democrats are more excited than other young people about participating in the political process, according to the poll. Seventy-six percent said they are reading and watching news about November’s elections, compared with 58 percent of young Americans overall. Similarly, 71 percent of liberal young Democrats called voting in the midterms very important, compared with 54 percent of young Americans overall.
Miller, who is a tax preparer, said that while she will absolutely vote in November’s election, she’s frustrated by the tone of politics today.
“It’s more like a big high school argument,” she said.
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The AP-NORC and MTV poll of 1,052 young Americans age 15-34 was conducted Sept. 20 to Oct. 8, 2018. The poll was conducted using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
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Online:
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.org
Smart kids.
Other Poll: Young People Don’t Vote As Frequently As They Should
If the “exact” same question, using the “exact” same language were asked of seniors I imagine you would have near the same results. I’m on Medicare and use the VA for my health care but I still believe we should have been on some form of National HC since Teddy first brought it up in early 1900. For sure it should have been introduced as part of the GI Bill after WWII. Now, I believe we should begin the process of expanding Medicare by lowering the starting age. Continued over time, everyone could be covered and the HC industry would have time to make the required adjustments. Despite what the naysayers say the resulting cost would be lower with everyone covered.
…but feel that turning out to vote sullies their pristine intentions, so they will just keep texting.
More and more candidates are talking about “Medicare for all.” I’m glad people are talking seriously about reforms that will lift the inhumane burden that paying for health care puts on our lives. But there’s a fundamental flaw in thinking that Medicare for all will fix health care. Demanding Medicare for all is like demanding “Comcast for all." Sure, we’d all have access, but at what cost and on whose terms?
While it would likely reduce the out-of-pocket costs faced by consumers, Medicare for all will not actually reduce per capita health care costs that much. Sure, administrative costs will be lower thanks to economies of scale, but hospitals, drug- and device-makers, physicians, and suppliers will continue to demand the exorbitant fees they’ve always charged. We will still pay those costs, but rather than coming out of the pockets of individual users, the funding will come from all of us, probably in the form of higher taxes.
Overall, the medical-industrial complex is a system that distributes wealth from the middle class to the upper class. Instituting Medicare for all will not change that. Medicare for all is an appealing solution to those frustrated by ever increasing premiums, deductibles, and copays, but if we really want to fix health care, we need to socialize it from the bottom up.