Democrats Agree Candidate Health Important But Not Hillary’s

All voters strongly agree that a candidate’s health is an important voting issue, but while most Republicans and unaffiliated voters think the state of Hillary Clinton’s health is worth exploring, the majority of Democrats disagree.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 86% of Likely U.S. Voters say a candidate’s health is important to their vote, with 43% who say it is Very Important. Just 12% rate the health of a candidate as unimportant, and that includes only one percent (1%) who feel it is Not At All Important. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Democrats agree with 89% of GOP voters and 85% of voters not affiliated with either major party that a candidate’s health is important to their vote, although voters in Clinton’s party are slightly less likely to say it’s Very Important.

But only 17% of Democrats think Clinton’s health is a legitimate voter concern. Seventy-two percent (72%) think questions about their candidate’s health are just being raised by her opponents to make her look bad. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans and unaffiliated voters by a 52% to 37% margin think Clinton’s health is a legitimate issue.

Among all voters, 46% think questions that have now arisen about Clinton’s health are a legitimate voter concern, but nearly as many (43%) say they are just being raised by the Democratic nominee’s opponents to hurt her. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 6-7, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

[Rasmussen Reports analysts Amy Holmes  and Fran Coombs are available for interested media. Please call 732-776-9777 ext. 205 for interviews.]

In early August, when new questions about Clinton’s health were being raised, 59% of voters said all major presidential candidates should release at least their most recent medical records to the public. That was up dramatically from 38% in May 2014 when questions about her health were first being raised. Thirty percent (30%) said last month that candidates shouldn’t have to release their recent medical records, but 11% were undecided.

Most voters across nearly all demographic categories consider candidate health important to their vote, with sizable pluralities saying it is Very Important.

Among voters who rate a candidate’s health as Very Important, 59% believe Clinton’s health is a legitimate concern.

Voters who support Clinton in a matchup with Trump rate candidate health as an important issue but are less likely than Trump supporters to say it is Very Important. Only 13% of Clinton voters see her health as a legitimate voter issue, compared to 82% of Trump voters.

Just over half (51%) of men rate Clinton’s health as a legitimate concern. Forty-two percent (42%) of women agree, but slightly more (45%) see it instead as an issue being raised by her opponents to make her look bad.

Those under 40 are just as closely divided as women are, while their elders are more likely to rate Clinton’s health as a legitimate voter issue.

The seesaw battle between Clinton and Trump finds the Democratic nominee back in the lead in Rasmussen Reports’ latest weekly White Watch survey.

A majority of all voters believe the media, not the candidates, are setting the agenda for this year’s presidential election.

Voters continue to strongly believe that the media is more interested in controversy than in the issues when it comes to the presidential race.

But voters also think it is far more likely that reporters will help Clinton rather than Trump this election cycle.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily email update (it’s free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.