Poll, Analysis Find Medicare for All Losing Issue for Dems

Medicare for All looks like a political loser for Democrats, new analyses have found.

In an analysis of the 2018 midterm elections, Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz found Democrats who supported Medicare for All in the 60 closest House elections in the 2018 midterm elections did significantly worse than those who did not.

In the districts Abramowitz examined — places President Donald Trump won in 2016 by less than 10 points that were either open seats or a Republican incumbent — 42% of Democratic candidates who publicly supported Medicare for All won in 2018 while 72% of Democrats who did not support the legislation came out on top.

The results are consistent with polling by Kaiser Family Foundation.

In the October poll, 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they would prefer to vote for a candidate who will build on the existing law while 40% said they wanted a candidate who supported replacing the ACA with Medicare for All.

That should be a warning sign to Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote.

"Warren and Sanders are all-in on a proposal that the majority of Democrats don't want, and which exerted a drag on Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms," he wrote.

"That should worry them and their supporters."

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