… Over time, the voting patterns of elected officials have tipped more closely to the views of people who identify with their own political party than those of the public as a whole, emphasizing the importance of analyzing policy preferences by party. … What is not often recognized is how profoundly divided those who identify as Democrats and Republicans are on key issues of health care policy today, such as Medicaid spending and abortion.
While initiatives of the majority party, in the current case Democrats, are likely to align largely with their own constituents’ views, the close balance of power within both houses of Congress makes the views of the minority party, in this case Republicans, important to consider.
Using recent probability-based national polls, with sample sizes ranging between 1007 and 15 590, this Viewpoint describes the views on 4 issues among those who identify with the majority and minority parties. CONTINUED
Robert J. Blendon (Harvard T.H. Chan School), John M. Benson (Harvard T.H. Chan School) & Eric C. Schneider (Commonwealth Fund), JAMA
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