Muhlenberg poll shows Pennsylvanians less satisfied with health care

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Pennsylvanians are currently the least satisfied with the quality of health care since 2019. 

That’s one of the key findings of a new public opinion report, which was conducted with the Muhlenberg College Public Health program and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. 

The report examined opinions on a variety of Pennsylvania health issues including the affordability and perceived quality of health care, trust in Federal health care leadership, levels of stress related to politics and current events, and more. 

Pennsylvanians expressed lower levels of satisfaction with the quality of health care since 2019, with only 50% rating health care in the state as excellent or good and 45% choosing ratings of fair or poor. 

Affordability of health care was also identified a key hinderance to health care access, with over one out of four adult Pennsylvanians indicating that in the past year someone in their household had difficulty accessing health care due to cost. 

A majority of Pennsylvania residents surveyed expressed a lack of trust in Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s ability to handle health care issues, with 57% of survey respondents expressing “not too much” or “no trust at all” in Kennedy. 

Politics and current events are an increasingly significant cause of stress for Pennsylvanians, the survey found. A total of 44% of adults in the state reporting that these events are a major source of stress in their lives. The 44% mark is 12 points higher than this time in 2025. 

As the role of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow in aspects of life including health care, only 6% of adults in Pennsylvania indicated they had “a lot” of trust in chatbots such as ChatGPT to provide accurate medical diagnoses and treatment recommendations. 

A record number of residents identified climate change as a crisis with 44% of adults in Pennsylvania now saying this matter is a crisis, up 15 points from 2023.  

Views on climate change are dramatically different across partisan divides with 66% of Democrats identifying climate change as a crisis compared to only 12% of Republicans sharing this view. 

Support for full legalization of marijuana in Pennsylvania continues to be about twice the level of opposition, with 47% of adults in support of legalization compared to 25% opposing legalization.  

The report showed the percentage of Pennsylvanians that are neutral about this policy option has doubled since 2020.