Washington Reporter Features GrayHouse’s Battleground Healthcare Survey
The Washington Reporter’s October 23 feature marks the launch of a polling partnership with GrayHouse. Below is Managing Partner Landon Wall’s analysis from the accompanying October 22 research memo.
A Washington Reporter-GrayHouse survey of 2,000 likely November 2026 voters, 1,000 in five battleground Senate states and 1,000 in 33 battleground House districts, conducted October 14 to 19, was built to give candidates and their teams clarity on the issues this election is about, on where prescription drug pricing sits among them, and on what they want the people they elect focused on.
Key Takeaways
The election is about everyday costs, groceries, gas, housing and utility bills, and it is not about healthcare: affordability is the top priority for 37%, healthcare on its own for 4%.
Prescription drug pricing is not a priority for these voters and does not move their vote. Only 2% say prescription drug prices are the biggest strain on their family budget, last on the list and far behind groceries (29%), gas (18%), housing (14%) and utility bills (13%). A candidate whose top priority is Most-Favored Nation drug pricing loses every head-to-head tested by a wide margin.
Healthcare is Democratic terrain: voters trust Democrats on it by 12 points, and when healthcare decides the vote, the generic ballot moves from D+3 to D+8. A drug-pricing message does nothing to change that.
To the extent voters have a healthcare cost in mind, it is health insurance: 76% put the price of health insurance ahead of the price of prescription drugs, and government price controls on drugs are not what these voters are asking for.
To These Voters, Affordability Means Groceries, Gas, Housing and Utility Bills
Affordability and the cost of living leads every other issue by 15 points and is first in every party, including 25% of Republicans. The one thing voters want their member of Congress to get done next year is lower grocery prices (18%), more affordable housing (18%) or lower health insurance prices (15%). Healthcare on its own is sixth of eight issues, and the top priority for 2% of Republicans.
Q. Thinking about the cost of living, which ONE of these is the biggest strain on your family's personal finances right now?
Prescription Drug Pricing Is Not a Priority for These Voters and Does Not Move Their Vote
Prescription drugs are the biggest strain on the family budget for 2% of these voters and the one thing they want Congress to get done next year for 2%, last on both lists in both samples. Half, 51%, have heard nothing at all about Most-Favored Nation drug pricing, and asked what happens if it becomes law, 54% expect the cost to get passed on to everyone else through higher prices and more expensive health insurance, against 27% who expect patients to pay less at the pharmacy counter. A candidate running on it loses every head-to-head tested. Offered a candidate whose top priority is bringing down the price of groceries against one whose top priority is passing Most-Favored Nation drug pricing, voters choose groceries 64% to 27%. Offered a candidate whose top priority in Congress is taking on the health insurance companies against the same drug pricing candidate, they choose the candidate taking on the insurers 69% to 20%. Republicans make the same choices, 57% to 33% and 55% to 30%. The survey shows that prescription drug pricing does not determine how these voters vote, for either party.
Q. When thinking about your vote for Congress, which of the following would you prefer?
Healthcare Is Democratic Terrain, and a Drug-Pricing Message Does Not Change That
When the election is about healthcare, it is on Democratic ground. Voters trust the Democratic Party over the Republican Party to handle healthcare 47% to 35%, 46% to 37% in the Senate battlegrounds and 47% to 34% in the House battlegrounds, and independents trust Democrats by 19 points, 45% to 26%. Democrats lead the generic ballot 49% to 46%. Asked how they would vote if healthcare were the most important issue, voters choose the Democrat 51% to 43%, and the Democratic lead among independents grows from 13 points to 21. With healthcare the top priority for 4% of voters and drug prices the top concern for 2%, there is no reading of this data in which a Republican candidate improves that terrain by making prescription drug pricing a central message.
When Voters Do Have a Healthcare Cost in Mind, It Is the Insurance Bill
Asked which of the two Congress should prioritize, 76% choose lowering the price of health insurance and 19% lowering the price of prescription drugs, in both samples and in every party: Republicans 67% to 26%, independents 77% to 17% and Democrats 84% to 14%. The polling some groups are circulating asks about prescription drug costs several ways and never asks how they compare with anything else a family pays, so it reports a priority these voters do not hold.
Q. Which of these two should Congress prioritize: lowering the price of health insurance for Americans, or lowering the price of prescription drugs for Americans?
Support for Government Price Controls Is a Measure of Strain, Not a Policy Verdict
Any support number for government price controls on prescription drugs should be taken with a grain of salt, because these voters say yes to government price controls on everything, from 82% for health insurance to 66% for rent increases. That is not eight policy verdicts. It is a household stretched by groceries, gas, housing and their monthly utility bills saying yes to anything that sounds like relief before it has heard the trade-offs. Voters are asking for lower everyday costs, and government price controls are not a productive answer to that ask, however well they poll. Once voters hear the trade-offs, the politics change, and the candidate who ran on price controls is left in a bad spot.
Q. Would you support or oppose a federal cap on each of the following?
Government price controls on | Support | Oppose |
What families pay for health insurance | 82% | 12% |
Electricity and utility bills | 77% | 16% |
Credit card interest rates, at 10 percent | 77% | 16% |
What homeowners pay for home insurance | 75% | 17% |
Gas prices | 73% | 20% |
Mortgage interest rates | 72% | 20% |
Grocery prices | 67% | 25% |
How much rent can go up each year | 66% | 26% |
Bottom Line
The election is about everyday costs, not healthcare, and prescription drug pricing sits at the bottom of the costs these voters are saying are straining their families' pocketbooks. Healthcare is Democratic terrain, with voters trusting Democrats over Republicans on it 47% to 35%, and a drug-pricing message does nothing to change that: a candidate running on it loses every head-to-head tested. Voters are asking candidates to provide clear plans and solutions in the last two weeks to address the rising costs of groceries, gas, housing and their monthly utility bills. Government price controls on prescription drugs are not what these voters are asking for, and campaigning on them will not decide these races.
Methodology
Interview Dates | October 14-19, 2026 |
Target Population | Likely November 2026 general election voters, 2,000 interviews in two equal samples: the Senate Battlegrounds (Alaska, Georgia, Kansas, Maine and New Hampshire) and the House Battlegrounds (33 congressional districts: AZ-01, AZ-06, CA-13, CA-22, CA-45, CA-48, CO-08, FL-23, IA-01, IA-03, MI-07, NC-01, NE-02, NJ-07, NJ-09, NM-02, NV-03, NY-03, NY-04, NY-17, NY-19, OH-01, OH-09, PA-07, PA-08, PA-10, TX-28, TX-34, VA-01, VA-02, VA-07, WA-03 and WI-03). |
Sampling Method | Respondents were randomly selected from voter-file lists of registered voters in each state and district, then screened for their likelihood to vote in November. Each sample was fielded and weighted on its own. The two samples count equally in the total, and the five states count equally within the Senate Battlegrounds. |
Weighting | Each Senate state and each House region was weighted to its likely November 2026 electorate by gender, age, race and ethnicity, education, household income, party identification and recalled 2024 presidential vote (Senate Battlegrounds: Trump 47%, Harris 44%; House Battlegrounds: Trump 42%, Harris 43%). Counts shown in tables are rounded weighted counts; percentages and breakouts are weighted. |
Number of Respondents | 2,000 likely voters (1,000 in each sample) |
Margin of Error | +/- 2.2% at 95% confidence (+/- 3.1% for each sample) |
Survey Modes | SMS text-to-web 45%; live-to-cell 40%; live-to-landline 15%. |
