Rasmussen Poll Shows Increase in Single-Payer Support

A single-payer healthcare system is gradually gaining in popularity, with 48 percent of likely voters in favor of such a plan and 36 percent opposing it, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday.

Sixteen percent were unsure about how they felt about it.

The support for the single-payer plan, where the federal government provides health coverage for everyone, is up from 44 percent in May, which was the first time in polls since 2009 that more voters supported a single-payer system than opposed it.

Other results from the poll include:

• Despite the rise in support for a single-payer system, 49 percent said it is likely to increase the federal budget deficit, 12 percent think it will decrease the deficit, 25 percent say the deficit will stay about the same, and 14 percent are undecided.
• Sixty-four percent of voters said their personal taxes are likely to go up if a single-payer system is set up, while 6 percent said their personal taxes will decrease, and 20 percent said they will stay about the same.
• Democrats are far more supportive, at 74 percent, of a single-payer system than Republicans at 23 percent or independents at 44 percent.
• Only 33 percent of Democrats think a single-payer system will increase the federal budget deficit, but 67 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of independents said it would.
• However, majorities of all three groups said such a plan would make their taxes rise, with 55 percent of Democrats saying so, 73 percent of Republicans, and 63 percent of independents.
• Even among voters who back a single-payer system, 51 percent said it will boost their personal taxes and 32 percent said it will increase the deficit.
• Forty-five percent of all voters expect higher healthcare costs if the government controls the health care system, while 43 percent said the quality of care will suffer.
• Among all voters, 49 percent said the federal government is responsible for making sure that all Americans have healthcare, but only 40 percent said taxpayers can afford it.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Sept. 12-13, around the time Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and 15 Democratic senators presented a new single-payer healthcare plan to Congress. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.

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