From: Tom Jensen, Public Policy Polling
To: Interested Parties
Subject: Health Care Fueled Evers’ Election in Wisconsin
Date: November 7, 2018
A Public Policy Polling election day survey of Wisconsin voters found that health care was the top issue for voters in the state — and that they overwhelmingly favored Democrats on it, propelling Tony Evers to victory:
–68% of voters said that health care was either a very important issue, or the most important issue to them. Those voters supported Evers over Scott Walker 65-33.
-When asked to name the single issue most important to them in 2018, a plurality (27%) picked health care compared to 25% for taxes, 15% for immigration, 8% for the Supreme Court, and 4% for security and crime. Among those voters who said health care was their single most important issue in the election, Evers defeated Walker by a whopping 89-7 margin.
-Evers especially had an advantage over Walker when it came to the issue of who voters trusted more to protect people with pre-existing conditions. 50% preferred Evers on that to only 41% for Walker.
–Scott Walker’s support for the Republican health care repeal agenda hurt him badly. Only 32% of voters said his support for repeal made them more likely to vote for him, to 47% who said it made them less likely to.
-Walker’s stance on health care was also a high visibility issue in the race. 56% of voters said they had seen, heard, or read a lot about Walker’s position on health care recently and among those voters 47% said most of what they’d seen was negative to only 30% who said most of it was positive.
-An overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites want to see the Affordable Care Act stay in place– 62% think it should be kept with fixes made to it as necessary, compared to only 32% of voters who support repealing it.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 702 voters on election day in Wisconsin via telephone. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.7%.