As Congress considers a transformational budget bill that can pass the Senate with just 51 votes instead of 60 through the process of reconciliation, a recent poll finds that nearly three-quarters of Americans support reforms to Medicaid, one of the major entitlement programs that takes up a large percentage of federal spending.
“A proposal has been made to reduce the growth in Medicaid spending,” RMG Research, a polling firm, asked registered voters in a poll conducted on behalf of Napolitan News Service. “The proposal would remove illegal immigrants from Medicaid and require all who want Medicaid to work if they are able. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?”
Most respondents (71%) said they would either “strongly favor” (40%) or “somewhat favor” (31%) the proposal, while only 25% said they would “somewhat oppose” (14%) or “strongly oppose” (11%) it.
The House of Representatives passed a budget resolution Tuesday that included Medicaid reforms in order to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade. Republicans have floated proposals to root out waste and to require work.
Respondents also broadly favor work requirements for federal assistance in general.
“Would you favor or oppose requiring all who want financial assistance from the federal government to work if they are able?” RMG Research asked.
More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents said they either “strongly favor” (40%) or “somewhat favor” (36%) such a proposal, while only 19% said they either “somewhat oppose” (13%) or “strongly oppose” (6%) it.
Most respondents (65%) also agreed that “reducing the growth of federal government spending” is good for the economy. About a third (29%) said slowing the growth of spending is “very good” for the economy, while 36% said it is “somewhat good” for the economy. A quarter (25%) of respondents said it would be “somewhat bad” (15%) or “very bad for the economy” (10%).
RMG Research surveyed 1,000 registered voters online on Tuesday and Wednesday. The margin of error for the sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Where Does Trump Stand on Medicaid?
President Donald Trump repeated his pledge not to slash Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security in remarks Wednesday.
“Can you guarantee that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security will not be touched?” a reporter asked.
“Yeah. I mean, I have said it so many times, you shouldn’t be asking me that question, OK? This will not be ‘read my lips,’” the president responded, referencing President George H.W. Bush’s promise not to raise taxes, which the elder Bush broke.
“Now, we are going to look for fraud,” Trump added. “I’m sure you’re OK with that, like people that shouldn’t be on, people that are illegal aliens and others—criminals, in many cases.”
A Large Chunk of Federal Spending
The Department of Government Efficiency, which seeks to identify and cut federal waste, fraud, and abuse, claims to have saved taxpayers $65 billion throughout the government in the little over a month that it’s been in existence. That figure, while noteworthy, represents about one-tenth of Medicaid spending, and a mere 1% of the federal government’s annual spending.
Medicaid spending accounted for $616 billion in 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This represented about 10% of all federal spending ($6.1 trillion) and 16% of mandatory federal spending ($3.8 trillion). It also represented 2.2% of the U.S.’ gross domestic product.
In order to address the annual deficit, which is the difference between how much the government takes in and how much it spends in a single year and stood at $1.7 trillion in 2023, the Trump administration will have to cut significantly more than DOGE has initially identified.
This poll suggests the public supports reforms to cut waste and abuse, even from major programs Trump has pledged to preserve, like Medicaid.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
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