Health care is number one issue for voters in Democratic debate: poll

Health care is the top issue Democratic voters want to hear discussed at next week’s first presidential debates, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday.

Twenty percent of respondents named health care as the single issue they want to hear discussed during the June 26-27 debates, followed by immigration and border security at 12 percent and the economy/budget issues at 9 percent.

{mosads}Removing President Trump from office was only the top issue for 4 percent of respondents, tied with better cooperation in government, individual candidates’ plans to get the country on track, general social issues and equality issues.

The poll surveyed 385 registered Democratic voters between June 11-15 and has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

Eighty-two percent of respondents said they planned to watch the debate and an even larger majority — 86 percent — said the debates will be a factor in which candidate in the crowded field they decide to support. Fifty-four percent called the debates “very important.”

“It’s kind of a dog-and-pony show,” Jacob Cushman, a registered nurse from Naples, Fla., who participated in the poll, told USA Today, but “hopefully it’ll whittle down the candidates.”  

The polling on the candidates themselves largely reflected recent polls, with former Vice President Joe Biden in first place with the support of 30 percent of respondents, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 15 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with 10 percent.

But the poll also found excitement for Biden’s bid has dropped 8 points to 51 percent since March, while excitement for Warren is up 5 points to 37 percent.

Enthusiasm also rose since March for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who rose 4 points to 40 percent, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who increased 24 points to 31 percent.

Warren is also the most popular second choice among respondents, with 40 percent, followed by Sanders with 30 percent, Harris with 20 percent and Buttigieg with 10 percent.