Americans overwhelmingly support Medicare drug negotiations, but Biden sees little political boost
A new AP-NORC poll shows that 76% of Americans favor allowing the federal health care program for the elderly to negotiate prices for certain prescription drugs
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is trumpeting Medicare's new powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications — but a new poll shows that any immediate political boost that Biden gets for enacting the overwhelmingly popular policy may be limited.
But the same poll shows Biden's approval rating, at 40%, is about where it's been for the last year. Americans are split on how Biden is handling the issue of prescription drug prices — 48% approve, making it a relative strong point for Biden, but 50% disapprove.
Seven in 10 Democrats approve of how Biden is handling the issue of prescription drug prices, compared to about a third of independents and about a quarter of Republicans. Even so, Republicans are still much more likely to approve of how Biden is handling prescription drug prices than they are to approve of his job efforts overall (8%).
