New Survey: Overwhelming Majority of Iowa Voters Favor Presidential Candidates Who Tackle Drug Industry Pricing

New Survey: Overwhelming Majority of Iowa Voters Favor Presidential Candidates Who Tackle Drug Industry Pricing

64% of voters said it’s “very important” candidates address the rising price of prescription drugs; plus new Iowa presidential results

A new survey (here and here) from the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing with polling conducted by Morning Consult shows voters in important early primary states, like Iowa, see prescription drug pricing as a hot-button, bipartisan political issue in the 2016 presidential election. The poll also shows how Iowans view the current standing of the Republican and Democratic candidates for president.  Voters across party lines said they favor candidates ready to tackle the rising price of prescription drugs. The Iowa poll results are the first of four sets to be released this week from early primary states.

“Evidence continues to show that for candidates and voters on both sides of the aisle, unsustainable drug pricing is an important campaign issue that can’t be ignored. This latest poll of Iowa voters confirms what we are already hearing on the campaign trail,” said John Rother, Executive Director of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. “Simply put, voters are looking for relief from astronomical drug prices and favor candidates who understand this is a pocketbook issue for American families.”

Key findings from the new Iowa survey include:

• Nine in 10 voters say it is important for presidential candidates to address rising prescription drug costs
• Seven in 10 voters support increasing transparency in how prescription drugs are priced by requiring drug companies to publish research and development, marketing and sales costs for prescription drugs
• Nine in 10 voters say it is a good idea to tell consumers how much a new prescription drug costs in relation to existing prescription drugs
• Donald Trump leads Ben Carson by a 29-17 margin, with Marco Rubio rising at 12 percent. Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 18 percentage points.

The Campaign has mobilized supporters in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina to keep the rising price of prescription drugs at the forefront of conversations on the campaign trail. The ongoing, comprehensive campaign combines paid advertising, polling, grassroots field organizing, and critical drug price research.

Since the campaign launch, concerned voters have been engaging the presidential candidates in Iowa, and elsewhere across the country, to voice their concerns. Watch a video of presidential candidates addressing high drug prices.

The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) is a project of the National Coalition on Health Care, the oldest and most diverse group working to achieve comprehensive health system reform representing more than 80 participating organizations, including medical societies, businesses, unions, health care providers, faith-based associations, pension and health funds, insurers and groups representing consumers, patients, women, minorities and persons with disabilities. Member organizations collectively represent – as employees, members, or congregants – over 100 million Americans. CSRxP aims to spark a national dialogue about the need to find market-driven solutions to the problems caused by the onslaught of new high-priced prescription medicines. Follow CSRxP on  Twitter.