The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, found that 55 percent of Republican voters would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Medicaid expansion. Just 26 percent would be more likely.
“Republican voters are not buying the lie that Mississippi needs to expand Medicaid to able-bodied adults,” said Jameson Taylor, Vice President for Policy at Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “Even the lipstick-on-a-pig Medicaid expansions in Indiana and Arkansas are costing far more than expected, leading to tax and fee increases. Medicaid is a budget buster that will radically reduce available funding for K-12 education and roads and bridges.”
When voters were then told that Medicaid expansion has generally cost millions more than expected, which has resulted in tax or fee increases, along with increased competition for general fund priorities like education or infrastructure, opposition to expansion increased even further.
Republican voters, by a 70-13 margin, said they would be less likely to support a candidate who favored Medicaid expansion.
“Medicaid is the worst form of welfare there is,” Taylor added. “Unlike other forms of welfare, like Food Stamps, the courts won’t let states require that able-bodied Medicaid recipients work or volunteer. There are also no time limits.
“Medicaid expansion is a welfare trap, which is why more than half of expansion enrollees are not working. Medicaid expansion would deny these people of the American dream, the promise that with hard work and grit anyone can be a success in America.”
The full poll results can be found here.