More Physicians Voted for Clinton Than Trump, Survey Shows

Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won by a landslide last month — among physicians who read Medscape, that is.

Of 1575 physicians who completed an online Medscape Medical News survey on the election results, 55% reported that they had voted for Clinton compared with 26% for President-elect Donald Trump. Another 4% of physicians said they had voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or someone else, and 12% chose not to answer the question.

The percentage of physicians who supported Clinton approximates two other survey findings. Sixty-four percent of physicians said they were very disappointed (60%) or somewhat disappointed (4%) by the election results, and 56% said they strongly (42%) or somewhat (14%) opposed repealing the Affordable Care Act, which Trump has promised to do.

Of the physicians who completed the survey, 61% were male, and 38%, female. Six of 10 were 55 years of age and older.

Table. How Healthcare Professionals Said They Voted on November 8

	Voted for Clinton	Voted for Trump	Voted for Gary Johnson	Voted for Other	Preferred Not to Answer
All physicians	55%	26%	1%	3%	12%
Internists	57%	27%	2%	2%	10%
Family physicians	54%	28%	1%	2%	13%
Pediatricians	60%	21%	0%	5%	11%
Nurses	60%	28%	1%	2%	6%
Pharmacists	55%	31%	3%	3%	6%
Source: Medscape Medical News online survey

Another Medscape Medical News survey published in October 2015 suggests that a majority of Medscape physician readers leaned toward a Democrat candidate all along. When asked whom they backed for president last year, 29% named Clinton, and 17% named Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). That's 46% of physicians in the Democratic camp compared with 44% who named one of 15 listed GOP candidates. At the top of the Republican heap was retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, MD, at 20%, followed by Trump at 8% (Dr Carson is Trump's choice to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development).

According to the postelection survey, nurses were stronger Clinton supporters than physicians. Sixty percent said "I'm With Her," whereas 28% voted for Trump. Ninety-three percent of nurses who completed the poll were female, and 6% were male.

Trump won the White House by garnering 306 Electoral College votes to Hillary's 232 despite losing the popular vote by more than 2.8 million, according to the Cook Political Report. The preference for Clinton among Medscape readers reflects exit polling by CNN that showed that college graduates favored her over Trump 52% to 42%. The gap widens more among voters with postgraduate education — 58% for Clinton vs 37% for Trump.

In contrast, Trump won a slim majority — 51% — of voters who were not college graduates, whereas 44% of them supported Clinton.

Follow Robert Lowes on Twitter @LowesRobert

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Cite this: More Physicians Voted for Clinton Than Trump, Survey Shows - Medscape - Dec 15, 2016.

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