WASHINGTON _ Hillary Clinton may have the edge over Donald Trump when it comes to health care issues, a new poll found.
About 46 percent of voters said the presumptive Democratic nominee for president best represented their views on health care, according to a July poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. That compares to 32 percent who said the same for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. That could be because voters feel Trump isn't spending enough time on the issue: 56 percent said he didn't pay enough attention to health care, compared to 35 percent who said the same for Clinton.
Clinton has proposed a variety of health policy changes during this election, offering a plan to expand Medicare access to individuals over the age of 55 and backing a so-called "public option" for insurance. She also called for expanding funding for community health centers by $40 billion in the next decade. Many of those progressive proposals were aimed at aligning her policies more closely with those of her erstwhile Democratic primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who endorsed the former secretary of state this week.
Trump, meanwhile, has stood behind Republican proposals to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. He offered broad proposals to make health care available across state lines and to expand the use of health savings accounts, other policies long favored by the GOP.
The Kaiser poll also found that more voters trusted Democrats on issues like women's health, Zika, and lowering prescription drug costs. That comes even though voters' views on the 2010 health law still lean toward the unfavorable. Some 46 percent of people surveyed view the law unfavorably, compared to 40 percent who favor it.
Still, as Kaiser noted, the views may not have a dramatic effect on voting decisions. Only 37 percent said the issue was extremely important to their vote. Many more cited terrorism and national security or even a candidate's personal characteristics as more important to their decision.
The study was conducted among a random sample of 1,212 adults in both English and Spanish, and by landline and cellphone. Its margin of error is 3 percentage points.
