Majority of public opposes GOP plan for Medicaid cuts: Poll

Large majorities of Americans, including Republicans, oppose federal funding cuts to Medicaid, according to a new poll from health policy research group KFF. 

The results are yet another warning sign for congressional Republicans eyeing steep cuts to the program to pay for President Trump’s domestic agenda, including an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, other spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling. 

Republicans in the House and Senate are using a process known as budget reconciliation to try to enact Trump’s legislative priorities with only GOP votes. Medicaid has emerged as one of the major sticking points in the massive piece of legislation. 

According to the poll, released Thursday, three quarters of the public say they broadly oppose major federal funding cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  

Just about 55 percent of Republicans, but 95 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents, said they specifically oppose major Medicaid cuts.  

Democrats and advocacy groups have been hammering Republicans on the issue of Medicaid cuts for months, though recently Republicans have successfully fought back by accusing Democratic campaigners of defaming lawmakers.  

Swing district Republicans in particular have spent the past few weeks seeing ads urging them to protect Medicaid and warning about the devastating impact of cuts.  

According to the poll, even those who identify as a supporter of the president's "Make America Great Again" movement were closely divided about major cuts to Medicaid — just 51 percent said they supported the effort. 

Republican leaders have repeatedly said there will be no cuts to Medicare or Social Security, and that they only want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid.   

Trump said he would not sign legislation that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.  

Aside from Medicaid cuts, the poll found 54 percent of respondents said cuts to staff and spending at federal government health agencies by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) go “too far,” though the results were highly partisan.  

Republicans were largely in favor of the level of cuts, with six in ten saying they have been “about right.” 

At least nine in ten Democrats said they oppose major staffing cuts at the top health agencies, including the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), while between 58 and 77 percent of Republicans said they approve of the cuts. 

An exception is staffing cuts at the VA — less than half of Republicans said they supported the cuts, while 54 percent opposed them. 

The KFF survey was conducted April 8-15 among 1,380 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.