A child born with pre-existing health conditions attends a news conference with Senate Democrats who are critical of Trump administration efforts to alter the U.S. healthcare system, on Capitol Hill on July 11, 2018. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 3 (UPI) -- While a solid majority of Americans still hold negative views of the U.S. healthcare system, the size of that share has fallen to its lowest point in a quarter-century, new research shows.

Pollster Gallup said its survey that measures attitudes about U.S. healthcare shows 63 percent of respondents believe the system is either having "major problems" (49 percent) or is "in a state of crisis" (14 percent).


With the exception of a single poll conducted shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Monday's survey represents the lowest level of negativity about the U.S. healthcare system since Gallup began examining the subject in 1994.

The pollster said partisan divides usually play a significant role in how respondents answer questions about healthcare -- as those who identify with the sitting president's political party typically have less negative views of the system. Monday's report shows Republicans' negative ratings dropped to their lowest point since 2001, at 47 percent, which is a sharp decline from a high of 80 percent in 2016.

Some 77 percent of Democrats, meanwhile, voiced negative perceptions of the system, a decline from 84 percent last year.

Negative perceptions of U.S. healthcare have consistently hovered between 60 and 70 percent over the last four presidential administrations and their differing approaches to healthcare policy, Gallup said.

Gallup surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults and said the results have a margin of error of 4 percent.