A majority of Americans, including people who voted for President Trump in November, do not want to see Medicaid funding cut, according to a poll from KFF released Friday.
More than 80 percent of respondents, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, independents, Trump voters, and adults living in rural areas, said Medicaid funding should either increase or be kept about the same.
The findings underscore the potential political peril facing congressional Republicans as they decide how deep to cut the social safety net to pay for much of Trump’s agenda, including an extension of tax cuts.
According to the poll, support for Medicaid cuts was notably low among conservatives; only 33 percent of self-described Republicans and 35 percent of Trump voters said they support Medicaid spending cuts.
Medicaid cuts would hit rural communities the hardest, and the poll found 77 percent of rural residents want to either increase Medicaid funding or keep it the same. Two-thirds of rural Republicans expressed similar sentiments.
While many Republican legislators, Trump, and Elon Musk have said any changes to Medicaid will focus on rooting out fraud and waste, critics say any major savings would require reductions in spending and benefits.
“I am about ready to say Medicaid is up there with Social Security and Medicare on the public’s do not-cut list,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement. “That’s a real change since the beginning of the program, and one that Republicans in Washington are coming to grips with.”
The poll comes as House Republicans have advanced a budget resolution calling for at least $2 trillion in spending cuts.
Under the resolution, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, has been tasked with identifying at least $880 billion in cuts to programs under its jurisdiction. The Congressional Budget Office issued a report Wednesday finding that such savings are not achievable without cuts to Medicaid or Medicare.
Among the possibilities being floated are changes to state provider taxes, reducing the federal government’s share of the cost for Medicaid expansion states, and work requirements.
Work requirements are perhaps the least politically perilous, but as a stand-alone policy they wouldn’t come close to hitting the cost savings target Republicans set.
Nearly 60 percent of adults said they are in favor of adding work requirements to Medicaid, though that figure was cut in half when respondents were informed that most beneficiaries already work and many people would lose coverage due to paperwork challenges.
Although studies have shown that most working-age adults on Medicaid are already working, about 6 in 10 adults think most people in the program are unemployed. The lack of knowledge crossed party lines, as half of Democrats, 60 percent of independents, and three-quarters of Republicans and Trump voters said they were unaware most Medicaid beneficiaries are employed.
The survey was conducted Feb. 18-25 online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 1,322 U.S. adults. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
