Do Americans support increasing funding for Medicaid, SNAP? What a new poll found

More Americans support increasing funding for social safety-net programs than favor cutting funding, according to a new YouGov/Economist poll.

It comes after Congress passed a sweeping budget bill — signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 — that will reduce spending on and expand work requirements for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

As a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that 11.8 million fewer Americans could have health insurance in a decade, the Associated Press reported.

Here is a breakdown of the poll’s findings.

Increasing funding is popular

In the survey — which sampled 1,528 U.S. adults July 4-7 — respondents were asked about funding for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and SNAP — programs which make up a large share of annual government spending.

When asked about Medicaid, 49% of respondents said the program should be given more funding, while 25% said it should receive the same level of funding. An additional 15% said it should be given less funding.

That said, a slim majority, 51%, said they favor increasing work requirements to receive Medicaid — as the latest budget bill does. Thirty-three percent said they oppose this.

Medicare proved more popular, with 56% of respondents saying they favored more funding. Twenty-eight percent said it should be given the same level of funding, and just 6% said it should receive less funding.

Meanwhile, Social Security was even more well-liked. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents said the program — which primarily supports retirees – should be given more funding. Twenty-six percent said it should receive the same level of funding, and just 3% said it should receive less funding.

In contrast, opinions were most divided when it came to SNAP. Less than half of respondents, 41%, said the food assistance program should receive more funding. Twenty-nine percent said it should be given the same share, and 16% said it should be given less.

Views on the budget bill

Taking a step back, respondents’ views on the latest budget bill were largely negative, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

A majority, 53%, said they oppose the spending legislation while 35% said they support it.

Fifty-two percent also said they believe it will hurt average Americans either some (17%) or a lot (35%). In contrast, 28% said the bill will help ordinary Americans some (17%) or a lot (11%).

Most respondents, 52%, also said they think the bill will increase the federal budget deficit, while 19% said they believe it will decrease the deficit.

This story was originally published July 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Do Americans support increasing funding for Medicaid, SNAP? What a new poll found."