Between the forums last Wednesday and Thursday, only four of the 20 candidates onstage said they were in favor of abolishing private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.). Harris later partially modified her position, stating she misheard the question and believes private plans should continue offering supplemental coverage alongside the federal system (as would be the case under Sanders’ Medicare for All plan).

“These numbers only affirm what the senator has said many times: people don’t like insurance companies, they like their doctors and their hospitals,” Sanders’ campaign said of the data in an email to Morning Consult. “Despite what the pharmaceutical and insurance industries will tell you, Medicare for All is the only proposal that gives Americans the freedom to control their own futures — change jobs, start a family, start a business — and keep their doctor.”

Several polls have demonstrated that support for Medicare for All plummets when Americans learn the system would replace employer-sponsored coverage with one sweeping plan, forcing single-payer supporters to go on the defensive to alleviate concerns from voters. But as candidates attempt to persuade voters that Medicare for All would not require diminishing the role of private insurers — further adding to confusion among the electorate about what exactly the system would entail — the new data suggests that the consequences of that argument can be mitigated by clarifying that losing private insurers would not affect access to preferred providers.