Abortion, IRA provisions will motivate voters in midterm elections, survey finds
Half of voters now say the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade has made them more motivated to vote in this year’s elections, up from 43% in July.
Health care issues, especially abortion and Medicare provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will motivate some voters in the upcoming midterm elections.
“With a Democrat in the White House, Republicans start with an advantage in this year’s midterm, especially on issues such as gas prices and crime, but their efforts to ban and criminalize abortion are backfiring on them politically, even in red states,” says Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF. “Whether this motivates enough voters to hit the polls and change the outcome remains to be seen.”
The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that half of voters now say the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade has made them more motivated to vote in this year’s elections, up from 43% in July. About two-thirds of Democrats and half of independents cite the court’s decision as a motivator, as do a third of Republicans.
Among those who say the Supreme Court decision is making them more motivated to vote, three-quarters say they plan to vote for candidates who want to protect abortion access, compared to 17% who say they plan to vote for candidates who want to limit access.
With states now determining whether and when abortion is legal for their residents, 4 in 10 voters say their state’s abortion laws are making them more motivated to vote this year. In states with abortion bans in place following the Supreme Court’s decision, half of voters say their state’s abortion laws are making them more motivated to vote this year.
Nationally, 82% of voters oppose laws that would prohibit abortion in cases of rape and incest, as is now in place in some states. About 6 in 10 oppose prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually at around six weeks.
The poll also finds that relatively few people are aware of the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. This includes allowing Medicare to negotiate some drug prices (36% are aware the law does this); capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs for people on Medicare (29%); and limiting overall out-of-pocket prescription costs for those on Medicare (29%).
Adults at least 65 years old, who are most directly affected by Medicare changes, are twice as likely as younger adults to say they’ve heard “a lot” about the IRA (25% vs. 12%). They are also more likely than younger adults to know about the Medicare drug negotiations and insulin provisions.
Related: Group health plans and abortion: Implications of Supreme Court decision
Most Democratic and independent voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports each of the IRA’s Medicare drug provisions. Nearly half of Republican voters say the same about candidates who support limiting out-of-pocket drug costs (48%) and insulin costs (47%) for people with Medicare, though somewhat fewer say so about candidates who support Medicare drug price negotiations (38%).
In addition, large majorities of older voters say they would be more likely to vote for candidates who support each of the IRA’s Medicare drug provisions, including limiting out-of-pocket prescription costs (73%); allowing Medicare drug price negotiations (65%); and capping monthly insulin costs (64%).