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Voters' Views on Mental Health

A Nationwide Poll (2024)

Recent bipartisan polling of registered voters nationwide, conducted by Impact Research and Meeting Street Insights on behalf of Inseparable Action, found that voters view the growing mental health crisis facing the country as a top issue priority and think elected officials are not doing enough to address it. The poll also found strong support for requiring health insurance plans to expand coverage of mental health care and lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Strong, bipartisan majorities of voters nationwide believe the U.S. is facing a growing mental health crisis. By wide margins, they believe mental health should be a high priority, but elected officials are not doing enough to address it currently.

Across party lines, registered voters overwhelmingly agree that there is a growing mental health crisis in this country (89%, including 94% of Democrats, 87% of Republicans, and 87% of Independents). And they think it is getting worse for young people, with three-quarters saying children and youth today are facing more mental health challenges and struggles than in the past (75%).

Nine-in-10 voters say expanding access to mental health care (89%) and addressing the mental health crisis in this country (88%) should be important priorities for elected officials such as members of Congress and state legislators, including 56% and 54% who say each should be a very important priority, respectively. These concerns are bipartisan, spanning large majorities of Democrats (95% and 91% important), Republicans (84% and 86%), and Independents (86% for each).

Yet bipartisan majorities believe elected officials in their state are NOT currently doing enough to address mental health (61%, including 71% of Democrats, 51% of Republicans, and 63% of Independents).

Majorities of voters believe mental health care is too expensive (52%) and difficult to access (53%). There is strong bipartisan support for proposals to expand access and lower out-of-pocket costs for patients by improving insurance coverage.

94% support requiring health plans to cover needed mental health care when prescribed by a patient’s doctor.

90% support requiring health plans to maintain accurate and up-to-date information for consumers about the mental health providers in their networks.

88% support expanding the use of telehealth for mental health care services.

87% support requiring insurance companies to cover out-of-network mental health care at no extra cost to the patient when no in-network services are available.

88% support prohibiting prior authorization for mental health services.

Voters across party lines support proposals to expand access to mental health for young people.

84% support providing up to six free counseling sessions to children and young people under 21 experiencing mental health challenges.

81% support expanding mental health services in K-12 schools by hiring and training more school psychologists, social workers, and counselors.

Candidates’ positions on mental health policy will affect voters’ choices at the ballot box.

Three-in-four voters (73%, including 88% of Democrats, 63% of Republicans, and 67% of Independents) say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for elected office like Congress or state legislature who supported the above proposals.

60% of voters say they would be less likely to support a candidate who opposed these proposals.

Survey Method:

These findings are based on a nationwide online and text-to-web survey conducted in English and Spanish from July 22-29, 2024, among N=1,000 registered voters. The margin of error for the full sample is ±3.1% at the 95% level of confidence and higher for subgroups.

Nationwide Mental Health Poll (2023)

Polling of registered voters nationwide, conducted on behalf of Inseparable Action, found strong, bipartisan concern about a growing mental health crisis facing the country.

The poll also found strong support for a range of proposed solutions to expand services in K-12 schools and require health insurance plans to expand coverage of mental health care.

Voters nationwide believe the country faces a growing mental health crisis, think mental health care is too expensive and difficult to access, and say expanding access should be a high priority for elected officials.

An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of registered voters agree that there is a growing mental health crisis in this country facing both adults (90%) and children and youth (91%, including 93% of parents with children 18 or younger at home).

Majorities of voters say that it is currently difficult for both adults (59% say it is difficult) and children and youth (54%, including 53% of parents) to get access to mental health care. A bipartisan, 62% majority of voters also say mental health care is currently too expensive.

Nine-in-10 voters (90%) say expanding access to mental health care should be an important priority for elected officials such as members of Congress and state legislators, including 60% who say it should be a very important priority. Majorities of Democrats (97% important), Republicans (88%), and Independents (85%) all share this concern.

Nearly two-thirds of voters say insufficient services in schools are a major problem driving this crisis, and there is wide, bipartisan support for expanding them in K-12 schools.

Six-in-10 voters (62%) and parents (60%) say insufficient mental health services in schools for children and youth who are struggling is a major problem contributing to the mental health crisis.

Proposals to expand mental health services in K-12 schools receive wide, bipartisan support.

Voters say the cost of mental health care and health insurance companies denying coverage of services are major problems, and there is wide, bipartisan support for requiring insurance companies to improve their coverage.

Two-thirds of voters say health insurance companies denying coverage of needed mental health services is a major problem contributing to the mental health crisis (64%). A similarly large majority say another major problem is that mental health care is too expensive and many people cannot afford the care they need (68%).

Proposals to require insurance companies to improve their coverage of mental health care garner overwhelming, bipartisan support.

Three-in-four of voters (76%, including 87% of Democrats, 65% of Republicans, and 77% of Independents) say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for elected office like Congress or state legislature who supported the above proposals. Just 6% would be less likely to support such a candidate and 12% say it would make no difference to their vote.

Meanwhile, voters say they would be less likely to support a candidate who opposed these proposals (61% less likely / 20% more likely / 11% no difference).

Survey Method: 

These findings are based on an online and text-to-web survey conducted November 17-22, 2023, among N=1,000 registered voters. The margin of error for the full sample is ±3.1% at the 95% level of confidence and higher for subgroups.

Colorado Voters on Youth Mental Health

In a recent survey of Colorado voters, particularly parents, it was evident that the overwhelming majority believe there is a mental health crisis among youth that needs to be addressed.

Voters overwhelmingly agree that there is a growing mental health crisis affecting children and youth in Colorado.

95% of Colorado parents agreed that there is a growing mental health crisis affecting children and youth.

Voters back all avenues to improve mental health services.

91% of parents agreed that we should make no-cost mental health services available to youth in Colorado who are struggling.

93% of parents agreed that health insurance companies should be required to cover needed mental health care when prescribed by a patient’s doctor.

93% of parents agreed insurance companies should be required to maintain accurate and up-to-date information for consumers about mental health care providers in their network.