ICYMI: CSRxP SURVEY FINDS AMERICAN VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY HOLD BIG PHARMA RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGH DRUG PRICES

Across Political Spectrum, Fabrizio Ward Finds Voters Identify Pharmaceutical Company Profits as the Driver of High Drug Prices, Support Market-Based Solutions to Hold Big Drug Companies Accountable

In case you missed it, new polling from Fabrizio Ward, conducted for the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP), found American voters overwhelmingly hold Big Pharma responsible for high prescription drug prices and support market-based solutions to lower prices by holding big drug companies accountable, including for gaming the U.S. patent system to block competition.

“Results from the new national survey of voters just completed for the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing show broad and overwhelmingly bipartisan support for policy solutions to lower the cost of prescription drugs by addressing pricing and anti-competitive practices from drug companies,” pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward wrote in a memo on their findings. “The electorate, including equal numbers of Trump and Harris Voters, holds intensely unfavorable views of drug companies. By wide margins, voters are very concerned about the cost of Rx drugs, hold drug companies responsible and clearly identify drug company profits as the driver of high drug costs. Members of Congress, including Republicans, would ignore this extraordinary voter sentiment at their peril. In fact, Republicans on the Hill should be looking to the White House for guidance on this issue as Trump Voters trust the President over Republicans in Congress by a three-to-one margin to address the issue of prescription drug prices.”

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was commissioned by CSRxP and conducted by Fabrizio Ward from February 13-16, 2025. Key findings from the survey include:

American Voters are Concerned with High Drug Prices

• Nine in ten voters expressed concern about the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S.
• More than half of voters say they have been negatively impacted by high drug prices.
• 69 percent of voters consider the cost of drugs either the biggest or a major concern for them out of all the issues facing American patients.
• More than half of voters reported difficulty affording their medications, decided not to buy their medications or had to stretch them due to costs.

Majority of Voters, Regardless of Party or Demographics, Have an Unfavorable View of the Pharmaceutical Industry

• More than 60 percent of voters view drug companies unfavorably, regardless of their voting record or demographics.
• 35 percent of voters view drug companies very unfavorably compared to just five percent of voters who view them very favorably. 

Most Voters View Drug Companies as the Main Contributor to High Drug Costs

• 62 percent of voters view drug companies as the most responsible for high drug costs out of eight options.
• Three in five voters blame drug company profits as the main driver of high prescription drug prices, a view shared by most Trump Voters (57%) and Harris Voters (63%).

Voters Overwhelmingly Support Solutions to Lower Prices by Holding Big Pharma Accountable

• 86 percent of voters support requiring drug companies to list the price of their drugs in direct-to-consumer advertising.
• 82 percent of voters support patent reforms to prevent drug companies from abusing the system to prevent cheaper alternatives from entering the market.
• 78 percent of voters support policies that prevent drug companies from raising prices on their existing drugs faster than the rate of inflation.

Nine-in-Ten Voters Share Concern with a Variety of Big Pharma’s Pricing and Anti-Competitive Practices

• 91 percent of voters are concerned Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world despite U.S. taxpayers funding a significant amount of the research and development that goes into new cures.
• 91 percent of voters are concerned patients in the United States pay more than four times as much as patients in Japan and China for Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
• 91 percent of voters are concerned Americans can pay three to four times more for the exact same brand name prescription drugs than patients in Europe.
• 91 percent of voters are concerned that in 2023, brand name drugmakers increased prices on five widely used prescription medications without any accompanying true innovation, costing U.S. patients and the health care system an additional $815 million.
• 90 percent of voters are concerned pharma companies spend billions of dollars per year on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs, oftentimes writing off their ad spending for tax purposes.
• 89 percent of voters are concerned Big Pharma has a long history of price-gouging American patients through tactics designed to game the U.S. patent system and block competition from more affordable alternatives, including patent thickets comprised of hundreds of patents on their blockbuster drugs, effectively preventing competitors from bringing lower-cost alternatives to market.

Read the full Fabrizio Ward memo on findings from the poll HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.