Republicans Out Of Step With Voters On Medicaid Funding

Newsweek

5 hours ago

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While Republican lawmakers have pushed for federal spending cuts to major safety net programs, like Medicaid and SNAP, new polling shows their position is out of step with voters—even within their own party.
According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, around half of all American adults say Medicaid receives too little funding, and nearly 45 percent felt the same about food assistance programs like SNAP.
The survey's findings show that only 2 in 10 Americans agree with House Republicans that Medicaid is overfunded, while about one-quarter say the same about food assistance programs.
Jacob Wallace, a professor in the department of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health, told Newsweek, "Medicaid and SNAP are critical safety net programs in the United States...These two programs form a foundation of health care and food security for tens of millions of low-income Americans, increasing their health, wellbeing, and productivity."
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The polling shows a clear disconnect between proposals from Republican leaders in Congress—who are considering significant spending reductions in Medicaid and SNAP to pay for extended tax cuts and other priorities—and the views of the public, including their own voters.
Majorities across party lines have expressed opposition to cuts in funding for widely used insurance and assistance programs because of the impact it could have on America's most vulnerable populations, as well as on health more widely.
Activists with the Poor People's Campaign protest against spending reductions across Medicaid, food stamps and federal aid in President Donald Trump's spending and tax bill being worked on by Senate Republicans this week, outside the...
Activists with the Poor People's Campaign protest against spending reductions across Medicaid, food stamps and federal aid in President Donald Trump's spending and tax bill being worked on by Senate Republicans this week, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, June 2, 2025. More
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
What To Know
President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," if passed, would bring in cuts to Medicaid and changes to eligibility, such as work requirements, which a recent study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and City University of New York Hunter College predicted could increase the number of annual deaths in the U.S. by more than 16,500 and leave 7.6 million more Americans without health insurance.
The proposed cuts to the SNAP program could also mean some states may stop providing constituents with food assistance benefits if they are left to shoulder the brunt of the costs.
These decisions, suggested in order to enable the president to bring about sweeping tax cuts, have been divisive from the start.
However, a new study by AP-NORC, conducted among 1,158 U.S. adults from June 5 to 9, shows that even the GOP's own party members are not widely in favor of its political strategy regarding these assistance programs.
Only around one in 10 Republicans believed that too much is spent on Medicare or Social Security, while around one-third of Republicans said Medicaid spending was excessive. For SNAP, 46 percent of Republicans felt the program was overfunded.
Overall, 60 percent of Americans said not enough is spent on Social Security, Medicare, or education.
The poll also noted Americans are divided on military and border security spending, with Democrats more likely to say that "too much" is being spent on border security, and Republicans more likely to say it's "too little."
The survey used NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
What People Are Saying
Jacob Wallace, a professor in the department of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health, told Newsweek: "Medicaid and SNAP are critical safety net programs in the United States. Medicaid serves over 80 million low-income Americans, including children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and families. There is growing evidence that Medicaid saves lives and improves economic opportunity. Children exposed to Medicaid in childhood made greater contributions to the tax system by age 28, both by earning more and relying less on social programs. They were also less likely to die prematurely. SNAP, which provides food assistance to over 40 million Americans, is associated with improved health and lower health care spending.
"These two programs form a foundation of health care and food security for tens of millions of low-income Americans, increasing their health, wellbeing, and productivity."
Michael Sparer, chair of the department of health policy and management at Columbia University, told Newsweek: "Millions of Americans rely on Medicaid for their health insurance and SNAP to help put food on their tables. As the number of beneficiaries have increased, the stigma of accepting these benefits has declined and the programs themselves have become more entrenched and more popular. Indeed, many who are skeptical of government and opposed to "welfare" are themselves Medicaid and SNAP beneficiaries.
"In this context, proposed cuts to these programs could generate a significant political backlash for the Trump Administration. Nonetheless, the Administration continues to move ahead with the proposed cutbacks, mainly because they are searching for federal budget savings that would help to finance the massive tax cuts that are their highest priority. The Administration is trying to balance this political equation by arguing that the cuts to both programs will focus on "fraud and abuse" and not needy individuals. But there is strong evidence that the imposition of so-called work requirements will result in millions of eligible beneficiaries losing their coverage, including large numbers of Trump supporters. It is too soon to tell how this will play out politically."
Jack Hoadley, a professor in the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, told Newsweek: "For the Trump administration, this is about cutting back the social safety net, but using the rhetoric of waste, fraud, and abuse to do so. These cuts will be a key part of the political pushback against the Trump administration in the upcoming 2025 and 2026 elections. But the fundamental red-blue divide may overshadow any particular issue."
What Happens Next
Congressional debate over spending on Medicaid and SNAP, as well as other programs, is set to continue as lawmakers negotiate the federal budget.
This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.