--- title: Health Care Should Be Trump's Top Priority, Poll Says description: Americans see reducing health care costs as the most important priority for Trump and Congress to tackle in 2018, according to a new poll. canonical: https://time.com/5050089/donald-trump-health-care-poll/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-05T17:49:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:53.342Z article:section: Health og:title: Americans Say This Should Be Trump's Biggest Priority in 2018 og:description: "No issue is viewed as more important" og:url: https://time.com/5050089/donald-trump-health-care-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta98af200712d9f31/6988f3c5ab6d77b96d6b0e00/gettyimages-885587866.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3797 og:image:height: 2136 og:image:alt: President Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Say This Should Be Trump's Biggest Priority in 2018 twitter:description: "No issue is viewed as more important" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta98af200712d9f31/6988f3c5ab6d77b96d6b0e00/gettyimages-885587866.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Say This Should Be Trump's Biggest Priority in 2018 > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a7ddfaa8-f883-4b1c-b337-8ee279e86a3a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Moms Head to Washington to Lobby for their Children's Healthcare [Watch (HLS stream): Moms Head to Washington to Lobby for their Children's Healthcare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rnoCqoNP.m3u8) (3:33)  _Published 2017-07-13. Angéla Lorio and Jessica Michot are Louisiana moms with medically complex children who journey to Washington to lobby their senator, Bill Cassidy._  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Dec 5, 2017 5:49 PM UTC  DEC. 4 - U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a speech at the Rotunda of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, Utah. DEC. 4 - U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a speech at the Rotunda of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, Utah. George Frey—Getty Images  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Dec 5, 2017 5:49 PM UTC Americans see reducing [health care costs](http://time.com/money/4970511/why-your-health-care-costs-are-out-of-control-in-one-graph/) as the most important priority for Donald Trump and Congress to tackle in 2018, according to a new poll. [The wide-ranging survey](https://www.prri.org/research/american-values-survey-2017/) released by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 50% of Americans say they are “somewhat or very worried that they or someone in their family will lose health insurance coverage in the next year.” Almost half of Americans, 46%, sees health care as the most important issue facing Trump, including 41% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats. “No issue is viewed as more important than reducing health care costs,” PPRI said in releasing the poll. Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress failed this year to make good on their years-long promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. That law has gotten more popular with time, even as Trump’s administration has looked for ways to undermine it. But the poll found that 59% of Americans believe the government should guarantee health insurance to citizens, even if it means raising taxes. The survey, titled “One Nation, Divided, Under Trump,” also showed significant partisan disagreements across a range of issues. For example, 86% of Republicans say “athletes should be required to stand during the national anthem,” compared to only 32% of Democrats. When it comes to sexual harassment, which has dominated headlines in recent months, almost eight in ten Democrats (77%) say sexual misconduct stories “reflect a broader pattern,” compared to 59% of Republicans who say the same. ## Transcript [00:00] [ APPLAUSE ] Everybody lift up your eyes to heaven in [00:03] memory of Michael Mishow. We love you Michael. We [00:04] love you Michael. Thank you for looking over us and [00:09] getting us to you safely. Michael passed [00:13] away after a year and eight days but medic aid [00:15] awarded us with memories that won't last a life time. [00:18] No body can take away those memories, [00:24] I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and I'm a registered [00:28] Democrat. I'm here with my friend Angela who is a [00:31] registered Republican and her son is [ UNKNOWN ] [00:35] I'm a Republican. I'm cheering him out I'm a [00:39] Republican. I'm trying to get us in. I [00:44] typically don't pick friends with youth that are politically [00:48] different. These boys are kind of what bridge the gap. [00:51] She got me like very few people Do get you. Someone I [00:54] could call in the middle of the night and say this is so [00:58] frustrating. Our nurse just cancelled two hours before [01:00] her shift. [ MUSIC ] [ INAUDIBLE ]. Hey hey, ho ho, [01:00] medicaid cuts have got to go. Hey hey, ho ho, [01:01] medicaid cuts [01:05] have got [01:10] to go. [01:16] Hi there. Hey. [01:32] High there I'm Tyler from [ UNKNOWN ] office. Yeah is [01:35] there any way we could just clear out the I'd be happy [01:36] to talk to you guys outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We [01:40] just- I think it's just a little bit of a fire hazard to have [01:41] so many people in here. Yeah. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] My [01:46] ultimate goal would be to meet with Senator Cassidy. I [01:49] want him to look at my son, I want him to hear my [01:52] son's story and know that how he votes [01:56] will directly affect people. It's not just political It's not [02:00] going to win him votes. It's going to cost lives. [02:02] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Hey how are you all [02:10] doing? Hey we're okay. Hi I'm Mary. Hey this is Jon [02:14] Paul. [ INAUDIBLE ] I talked to yeah yeah yeah. Yeah [02:18] okay good well I don't know if you Hey Jessica. Because [02:22] we can meet now real quick, we know you're busy. You [02:24] know, for me personally and Jessica, that's why [02:30] the caps, our kids will go through those so quick. [02:34] That's why we're just, we're scared. I've already lost [02:37] one son, I don't intend to lose another, so. It's kind of [02:41] like we'll do whatever we have to do because I can't [02:45] tell his sister that we have to bury her other brother. [02:51] It's not about us. We're here for all the adults and kids [02:55] who couldn't do this. Who couldn't be in a bus almost [02:58] 24 hours. And we put this together in five days If we [03:02] can do this together in five days, Democrats and [03:06] Republicans, then by gosh them over there they can at [03:10] least talk and come to a compromise with all the time [03:13] they've had. 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