by Libby Bandelin
Rampant healthcare affordability concerns during President Donald Trump’s administration played a role in voters heavily turning out to support Democrats during Tuesday’s midterms, exit polls show.
Healthcare ranked among voters’ top affordability worries alongside gas, groceries and utilities. In the same NBC News Exit Poll, more than 80 percent of voters expressed concern about the cost of those necessities, and 65 percent said Trump’s policies had made the overall economy worse. Forty-four percent of House voters said one reason for their ballot was to express opposition to Trump.
Eighty-five percent of voters reported that they were very or somewhat concerned about healthcare costs in their personal financial situation, with 60 percent of this group choosing to vote blue, an exit poll from NBC found. Specifically, 59 percent of respondents said they were “very concerned” about the costs — and 67 percent of these voters backed Democratic candidates as a blue tsunami swept the nation Tuesday night.
When asked what effect the Trump administration’s policies had on healthcare costs, 55 percent of voters said the policies had made costs worse — with 83 percent of this group voting Democratic and only 15 percent voting for Republicans.
KFF’s analysis of the same SSRS Voter Poll found that midterm voters gave Democrats a 19-point advantage on which party is better able to handle health care (49 percent to 30 percent). Among those who said the Trump administration’s policies had made their own health-care costs worse, 82 percent voted for Democratic House candidates (a 5-to-1 margin). The pattern held among independents.
The 9 percent jump in workers’ share of family premiums outpaced both wage growth at 3.7 percent and inflation at 2.7 percent. Total annual premiums for family coverage averaged $28,303 when the employer’s contribution is included. Workers at small firms of fewer than 200 employees faced a heavier burden, contributing an average of $9,687, nearly $2,850 more than their counterparts at larger firms. KFF President and CEO Drew Altman noted that the increase added to voter concern, which was already increased over Affordable Care Act and Medicaid changes.
The exit poll also asked voters if Trump’s healthcare policies made it the ability of Americans to get the healthcare coverage they need better or worse. A majority, 56 percent, of respondents said the president’s policies made it worse, and 88 percent of this group cast their midterm ballots for Democrats.
Notably, 45 percent of respondents said that the Trump administration’s policies made the amount of fraud in government-run healthcare programs worse, and of this group, 84 percent voted for Democrats. Only 30 percent said the administration made the amount of healthcare fraud better, despite its high-profile aggressive crackdown termed a “War on Fraud” spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Leading up to the election, healthcare affordability costs were a huge cause for concern among Americans as health insurance premium rates skyrocketed. Family health insurance premiums increased by 9 percent in 2026, with the average American worker paying $7,471 annually toward premiums compared to $6,850 in 2025, according to a survey published on Oct. 22 by health policy research organization KFF.
In August, the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (COAC) sent out a survey to 1,240 respondents from nine key Senate battleground states about healthcare issues and found that 79 percent of likely battleground voters said healthcare costs were very important to their vote.
The survey also indicated that Republicans “had an opportunity to neutralize a traditional deficit in trust on healthcare by emphasizing Democrats’ closeness to the insurance companies,” the survey said.
When voters were asked who they trust more on healthcare, “a Republican who wants to give healthcare subsidies directly to people to give them more control over the money,” or “a Democrat who wants to continue to pay healthcare subsidies to insurance companies and guarantee healthcare as a human right?” the Republicans won by a 46 to 39 percent margin, the survey found.
The exit poll was conducted by service and market research firm SSRS for a number of news organizations including: NBC News, ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and MS NOW. NBC News independently reported results from the poll which sampled over 75,000 voters at voting locations, online, and by telephone.
– – –
Libby Bandelin is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Executive Editor of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network Christina Botteri contributed to this report.
