New Jerseyans largely support expanding Medicare to provide basic health care coverage to every U.S. resident, regardless of age or employment status, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
The latest poll finds:
- Seventy-one percent of New Jersey residents support to some degree (51 percent “strongly,” 20 “somewhat”) expanding Medicare to provide coverage to every U.S. resident, regardless of age or employment status.
- Ninety-three percent of residents who support program expansion would support New Jersey moving ahead with its own program to provide basic health care coverage to every state resident (68 percent “strongly,” 25 “somewhat”) if it could be accomplished sooner instead of waiting for the federal government to expand the program.
- Support for expansion is consistent across race and ethnicity, gender, income level, education, and age.
Removing “Medicare” from the question makes no significant overall difference: When phrased as a “national program” with the description of Medicare but no mention of its name, seven in 10 still “strongly support” (54 percent) or “somewhat support” (17 percent) expansion to all U.S. residents. Eight percent “somewhat oppose” expansion and 16 percent “strongly oppose.” To read the full story.