2026 has been a year with rapidly shifting priorities. January and February were largely defined by an easing of Biden-era inflation, followed by escalating tension over immigration as President Donald Trump delivered on his promise of deportation of illegal aliens. By March, the conflict with Iran — and a spike in fuel prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — began to take center stage. In mid-April, reaching a peace deal with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to bring down fuel prices are still top issues.
Polling continues to show that fuel prices are a top priority to Americans, but another domestic issue continues to rank highly for voters, and it is an issue that Republicans are beginning to take the lead on — healthcare.
Healthcare has consistently ranked in the top three to four issues for voters over the past few years, with inflation, the economy, and immigration typically outranking healthcare. However, as those issues have begun to be resolved, healthcare is rising in priority.
Polling from Gallup released in late March shows that as the Trump Administration has tackled crime and illegal immigration, Americans have shown less concern about those issues and have shifted their concern to tackling healthcare.
Polls show the American people are highly concerned about healthcare and are largely open to Republican solutions, including the core tenets of President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, that seeks to prevent adverse health outcomes before they become costly.
The latest Economist/YouGov survey released April 14 and conducted April 3-6 shows that healthcare is the third most important issue to voters, with 34 percent of voters prioritizing inflation, eleven percent prioritizing jobs and the economy, and eight percent prioritizing healthcare. Immigration (six percent), crime (four percent), and foreign policy (two percent) all rank lower than healthcare even in the midst of the Iran conflict.
A Gallup survey from March 31 shows healthcare topping the entire list of domestic concerns for Americans, with more Americans saying they worry “a great deal” about the availability and affordability of healthcare than say they worry about fifteen domestic issues including inflation, the economy, federal spending, income distribution, and even crime and immigration.
Gallup found 61 percent of Americans worry “a great deal” about the availability and affordability of healthcare, more than any other area including the economy (51 percent), federal spending (50 percent), inflation (50 percent), crime (39 percent), and immigration (33 percent).
According to Gallup, concerns about healthcare have risen two percentage points since 2025, while concerns about issues the Trump Administration has been actively tackling, like immigration and crime, have declined since 2025. Concerns about crime and illegal immigration have declined eight points and seven points since last year, respectively.
As concerns about healthcare costs have risen, Republicans have embraced a preventative model to tackle the root causes of health issues through the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, and polling shows the approach is catching on.
A survey from Politico released April 6 shows that while MAHA originally began as a somewhat fringe movement, the concept is gaining widespread appeal as Americans seek better health outcomes.
According to the survey from Politico, the core tenets of the MAHA movement, including removing ultra-processed foods from the American diet, removing artificial dyes from foods, and reducing the impact of chemicals and microplastics, are widely supported even by those who do not identify as MAHA or as Trump-supporters.
While about 85 percent of MAHA supporters support reducing the impact of chemicals and microplastics, so do around 73 percent of regular Americans. While 80 percent of MAHA supporters support removing artificial dyes from foods, 65 percent of Americans agree. 78 percent of MAHA supporters support limiting pesticide use and do so 67 percent of Americans. 78 percent of MAHA supporters support limiting ultra-processed foods, and so do 61 percent of Americans. The only core issue Americans disagree with is restricting the foods eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which 72 percent of MAHA supporters and slightly less than half (47 percent) of Americans support.
Healthcare continues to be a number three priority for Americans, and as the Trump Administration has provided strong solutions to crime and immigration, those issues are beginning to fall lower down the list of priorities to voters. This is not a bad thing for Republicans; in fact it is the opposite.
Through offering workable solutions to top priorities, including the deportation of illegal aliens, the Trump Administration has created the most secure border in history and is on track to reduce crime rates to numbers not seen since 1900. Now, voters are prioritizing other domestic issues like healthcare, and rather than step aside and allow Democrats to define the narrative on that issue, conservatives are stepping up with solutions that empower Americans and prevent illness at the root-cause level.
The fact that a vast number of Americans who don’t identity as MAHA-supporters or even Trump supporters support the key tenets of the MAHA movement, is a signal that Americans are open to the conservative approach to healthcare which includes preventing disease at the root cause, and empowering Americans to make healthier choices. In the post-Obamacare era, conservatives often saw healthcare as a lost cause issue, or believed they had nothing to offer and that the issue of healthcare “belonged” to Democrats. That is no longer true, and as immigration, crime, and foreign policy start to be solved, healthcare will become a hot button issue again, and one that Republicans are leading on.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
