More than half of Republicans support 'Medicare for all,' along with 70 percent of all voters, poll finds

Majority of Republicans favor Medicare for all

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/HillTV)

Two weeks before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress, 52 percent of Republicans told a HillTV/HarrisX poll that they support expanding Medicare to all Americans, a proposal mostly famously promoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The other 48 percent of Republicans opposed the idea, the poll found. The 'Medicare for all' idea was unsurprisingly more popular among Democrats (92 percent support) and independents (68 percent support). Overall, 70 percent of Americans supported expanding Medicare to everyone, including 42 percent who strongly favored the idea.

Reid Wilson, a campaign correspondent for The Hill, told HillTV's Joe Concha that this is mostly a messaging problems for Republicans. "This is a debate that has only just started, and there are a lot of Republicans right now who are trying to figure out ways to talk about 'Medicare for all' in ways that will bring that number down, and bring the overall number down," Wilson suggested. "So this is not baked in at all."

The poll could also be an outlier, or it could signal a shift in acceptance for expanding a popular government program to everyone. HarrisX conducted the poll online Oct. 19-20, surveying 1,000 registered voters. It has a sampling margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.