A new survey has found that most of President Donald Trump’s supporters don’t support the government making any cuts to Medicaid funding.
The survey from Hart Research comes as Republican lawmakers struggle to find a path forward in their plans to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget through their reconciliation bill.
According to the surveyors, 71% of Trump’s voters said that cutting funding through Medicaid would be unacceptable, with 82% of all respondents agreeing.
Additional programs that Trump supporters would not support being cut include cutting goods and nutrition programs, which 60% said would be unacceptable. Among all respondents, that number grew to 76%.
With the GOP on Capitol Hill working to push forward Trump’s legislative agenda, many are now asking where they will look to slash the budget.
The House Rules Committee moved the budget resolution forward on Monday in a party-line vote. It will now move to the floor for debate and then a vote.
Part of the resolution will see the House Energy and Commerce Committee move to find at least $880 billion in budget cuts. This directive has raised the red flag for Democrats and moderate Republicans who fear Medicaid funding could be cut.
Medicaid is responsible for providing health care coverage to more than 70 million people in the U.S., the majority of whom are poor and half of them children.
The committee has jurisdiction over the program, which makes some think that cuts are coming, as well as cuts to food assistance programs, according to the Center for American Progress.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said that Medicaid is not on the table when it comes to cuts, despite many arguing that the committee has nowhere else to reduce its budget.
“Look, Medicaid has never been on the chopping block,” Johnson said at a press conference. “If you eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid, you’ve got a huge amount of money that you can spend on real priorities for the country.”
Trump also vowed not to touch Medicaid while making cuts but has said he would find waste or abuse within the program.
“Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “We don’t have to.”