DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/POLLS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VA: “David Hansen tried to get the words out. ‘I lost my health care,’ he began to say, his voice unexpectedly cracking, barely audible in the din of a people-packed and sweltering warehouse in Nicholasville, Kentucky. At 59, a US Navy veteran and registered Republican, Hansen lowered his head, unable to look at Democrat Amy McGrath, the congressional candidate headlining this political event in the small town outside Lexington. A retired US Marine and a decade and a half his junior, McGrath put her hand on his shoulder. Hansen had voted for Trump in 2016. He also voted for the Republican congressman for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, Andy Barr. But Hansen’s fortunes changed in 2017 after he had a stroke, an event so debilitating, he said, he couldn’t work, losing his health care coverage. He said he now pays for outside insurance, even though he’s entitled to get service from the Department of Veterans Affairs, because he said the care there is so poor. Hansen’s struggles illustrate why health care is among the top issues in the midterm elections, dominating political ads, particularly among Democrats, who are attacking Republicans over their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. In August, a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS found that 81% of voters considered health care important to their vote, including nearly half (48%) who said it was ‘extremely important.'”
–Kyung Lah, “Health crisis turned this Trump voter into a Democrat supporter,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 25, 2018 11:20 am