More than 60% of Nevada caucus-goers support eliminating private insurance and moving to a single-payer healthcare system, according to a poll conducted by Edison Media Research as Democratic voters entered their precincts Saturday.
The entrance poll showed that 62% of Nevada caucus-goers "support replacing all private health insurance with a single government plan for everyone," the Washington Postreported. Single-payer received a similar level of support among Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Nevada caucus-goers also ranked healthcare as their top issue, followed by the climate crisis and income inequality.
"It's fair to say Democratic leadership fails to understand how much everyday Americans hate their private healthcare coverage," tweetedTIME contributor Christopher Hale.
Medicare for All became a major topic of discussion in the build-up to the Nevada Democratic caucus after the powerful Culinary Workers Union circulated fliers that claimed Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All plan would "end" union members' healthcare.
But the Culinary Union leadership's seeming antagonism toward Medicare for All does not appear to be the dominant position of Democratic voters in the state.
"More than 11 percent of people in Nevada have no health insurance at all, according to a report by the Nevada Medical Center, not even the kind where you have to pay a $10,000 deductible," said Minda Estabillo, an RN care coordinator from Nevada and National Nurses United member who canvassed for Sanders ahead of Saturday's caucus.
"Medicare for All is a matter of life or death for our patients," said Estabillo.
