A political candidate’s position on access to mental health care has a substantial effect on the likelihood of citizens voting for the candidate, according to a
study in
PLOS One.
Why Is This Relevant?
With the congressional mid-term elections coming in November, mental health care will be vying with several other high-profile issues for attention.
By the Numbers
- 1,000 nationally representative voters provided their preferences for generic political candidates based on their positions on nine prominent issues and one specific mental health proposal, the Better Mental Health Care for Americans Act of 2023.
- An estimated 91% of participants supported the mental health proposal.
- Voters were 27% more likely to vote for a candidate if they agreed with the candidate’s position on the Better Mental Health Act. This effect was the third highest, slightly trailing access to abortion (30%) and student debt forgiveness (28%); it was higher than border security (23%) and other polarizing issues.
- Mental health was substantially more important to those in poorer health compared to those in better health, to high-income respondents compared to low-income respondents, and to liberals compared to conservatives.
The Other Side
The sample size was small and the results for smaller groups, such as racial minorities, are ambiguous. Moreover, the findings may be specific to the content or wording of the included proposal and may not perfectly capture the actual position of a voter.
Takeaway Message
“The present findings show that the public consensus in favor of policy action on mental health may carry real political weight,” the study author wrote. “For politicians and policymakers, the findings suggest that championing mental health could promise political rewards at least comparable to some issues that are currently more prominent on the public agenda (such as border control), and possibly greater than some, especially regulating carbon emissions.”
Related Information
Source
Jake Haselswerdt. Who cares about mental health? Benchmarking the issue importance of mental health for American voters. PlosOne. Published March 18, 2026. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0342486.
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/Francesco Sgura)