5 public opinion polling trends to watch

Today, we’re taking a closer look at Americans’ leading concerns and what issues they want policymakers to prioritize.

Below are five public opinion polling trends to watch.

Trend #1: Inflation and the economy are top concerns for most Americans.

• Data from a March 2022 poll by Gallup shows that 59% of the public is worried about inflation “a great deal,” which is roughly tied with the 58% worried “a great deal” about the economy.

Trend #2: Within health care, Americans prioritize addressing health insurance coverage, costs and barriers to care.

• Data from PhRMA’s March Patient Experience Survey shows that 49% of insured Americans who take prescription medicines face insurance barriers to accessing their medicines and 35% of insured Americans report spending more out of pocket for medicines than they could afford in the last month, with high deductibles being the significant driver of these unaffordable costs.

Trend #3: Lowering overall health insurance costs is more important for Americans than addressing prescription drug costs.

• Data from a February 2022 Ipsos/PhRMA survey of 2,510 adults shows that Americans want Congress to focus more on reducing the overall costs of health care coverage (71%) over reducing the costs of prescription drugs (29%).
• 86% of Americans agree that Congress should focus on cracking down on abusive health insurance practices that make it harder for people to get the care they need.

Trend #4: Americans want policymakers to address their true concerns and don’t want to sacrifice innovation, access or choice.

• Data from a March 2022 Ipsos/PhRMA survey of 2,510 American adults found that seniors overwhelmingly reject government “negotiation” when they learn it threatens access and future innovation. While three out of four seniors initially support the federal government negotiating drug prices, support among seniors falls to just 10% when told the policy could delay people’s access to new medicines.
• 82% agree that lowering out-of-pocket costs for health care should be a top priority for Washington.

Trend #5: Americans want bipartisan, commonsense solutions to reduce health care costs.

• Data from a March 2022 Ipsos/PhRMA survey shows that when asked to pick their top two choices out of a list of nine items, Americans believe the most personally-impactful changes needed are placing a cap on the amount health insurers can make patients pay out-of-pocket (33%) and giving insurers more incentives to keep the costs of health plans manageable for people who are sick and taking medicines (17%).

Unfortunately, as noted in a recent Ipsos/PhRMA survey, a bipartisan supermajority (87%) of Americans feel politicians have lost touch with what the public needs from their health care. However, there is a path forward to help meet Americans’ health care affordability needs by addressing what they pay out of pocket.

Learn more about bipartisan ways to advance patient-centered, commonsense solutions at PhRMA.org/BetterWay.