The new Congress ought to focus on lowering drug prices and reducing the federal deficit, American voters said in a new poll from Politico and Harvard University.
"The top two issues were not top two issues in the election,” said Robert Blendon, the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government. “So you've had a shift from what really drove voters to a somewhat different agenda.”
Blendon helped to design the survey, which shows that 80 percent of respondents, 90 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans, think it’s extremely important that Congress take action to lower the price of prescription medication. That same about, 80 percent, said working to reduce the federal deficit is also extremely important.
"The deficit would open up a battle that is just very hard," Blendon said. "Republicans lean on entitlements; Democrats will never go there."
Republicans and Democrats also continue to disagree about President Donald Trump and investigations into his finances and ties to Russia. About 58 percent of respondents said Congress should investigate Trump’s taxes and investments, while 62 percent believe that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation should continue. Both of these are widely supported by Democrats, but mostly opposed by Republicans.
The Politico-Harvard poll surveyed 1,014 adults from December 4-9, and has a margin of error between +/- 3.6 and 5.1 percentage points.