83.5% of Nurses Say Lawmakers Represent Them Poorly on Healthcare

Part of Nurse.org’s Nurse Voter Survey 2026, based on responses from 830 licensed nurses before the November midterms.

The Nurse Voter Survey didn’t ask nurses who they planned to vote for, but it did ask how well they feel elected officials represent them on healthcare, and what they’ve done to be heard, from encouraging others to vote to testifying.

These findings reflect 830 licensed nurses who chose to take the Nurse.org survey, not a representative sample of all US nurses.

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We asked how well elected officials represent nurses on healthcare. Among the 830 licensed nurses who answered, 83.5% said their elected officials represent them poorly, including more than one in four who said “not at all.” The pattern held across Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

“Not very well” and “Not at all” combined give the 83.5% “poorly” headline figure. Columns sum to approximately 100%, subject to rounding. Source: Nurse.org, Nurse Voter Survey 2026.

“Not at all” is the second-largest answer across every group. More nurses picked it than picked “somewhat well” and “very well” combined.

Nurses in each party describe the same complaint in their written answers. “Government officials don’t have enough knowledge and understanding of what really goes on at the bedside,” a Democratic nurse wrote. A Republican nurse added: “They don’t understand, they need to spend a couple of shifts throughout the floors to truly understand. Get punched and kicked by a patient or family member. Maybe that would bring clarity.” An independent nurse wrote: “I have yet to see a politician work as a nurse even for one shift.”

Nurses also described feeling that the people writing healthcare policy don’t live under the system they build. “Politicians have better healthcare than the citizens they supposedly represent,” one nurse wrote. Another nurse wrote, “Elected officials all have health insurance and an income,” then asked how they would know what it feels like to choose between food and medicine.

Not every nurse agreed. 14.3% of nurses in our survey said their representatives represent them well on healthcare, and 2.2% were unsure. One independent nurse wrote: “My representatives and senators understand the importance of healthcare and support it.”

We asked nurses whether they had ever done any of five specific things to be heard, from encouraging others to vote to testifying. 88.0% of the nurses in our survey selected at least one. 64.6% did at least one thing beyond encouraging others to vote.

Multiple responses allowed; percentages do not sum to 100 within each column. The All column includes the 164 nurses who selected “prefer not to say,” “something else,” or did not answer the party question, who are not shown in the party columns. Source: Nurse.org, Nurse Voter Survey 2026.

In every party, most nurses have taken at least one civic action, with rates close across groups (91.7% of Democrats, 88.1% of independents, and 85.5% of Republicans), and encouraging others to vote was the top action in each. Formal advocacy, like contacting a lawmaker or attending a rally, was less common among Republican nurses: 50.9% did something beyond encouraging others to vote, versus 70.7% of Democrats and 69.4% of independents. The survey didn’t ask why.

Nearly 1 in 2 nurses in our survey have contacted a lawmaker. Nurses who have done it describe the experience in similar terms. “I frequently contact my senators and representatives (state and federal) and we continue to see no changes to the laws,” one nurse practitioner wrote. Another nurse said: “I have often gotten form letters back from the politicians I have contacted.”

One nurse wrote more broadly about elected officials: “Our elected officials are out of touch with reality and don’t care to hear about what we as Americans feel, let alone what nurses are saying. … They don’t respond, and they don’t advocate for their constituents.” The nurse added that it doesn’t matter which side of the aisle officials sit on.

Another nurse wrote: “It’s easy to praise healthcare workers without actually doing anything to improve our working conditions. Free pizza doesn’t pay bills or cure burnout.”

Feeling poorly represented and having taken civic action were common experiences among the same nurses. Among the 693 who said their elected officials represent them poorly on healthcare, 88.6% (614) have taken at least one civic action and 47.8% (331) have contacted a lawmaker.

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For 24 consecutive years, Gallup has ranked nurses the most honest profession in the United States. The nurses in this survey back that trust up with action: 88% have taken at least one civic action, and nearly half have contacted a lawmaker. Some are running for office themselves. Nurse.org’s Nurses on the Ballot series tracks 18 nurses running for Congress in 2026 and at least 140 running for state legislatures across 42 states.

Yet 83.5% of nurses in this survey still said elected officials represent them poorly on healthcare.

One nurse put it this way: “Nurses aren’t represented or heard by those making legislation. They don’t understand what a nurse does or how they are educated. Their view of nurses is stereotyped by TV and other media. We may be trusted but we sure aren’t respected.”

More from the 2026 Nurse Voter Survey

🤔 Have you contacted a lawmaker about a nursing or healthcare issue? Tell us in the comments below.

The figures in this piece are from the Nurse Voter Survey 2026, Nurse.org’s survey of 830 licensed nurses conducted September 1 through October 25, 2026. For the full methodology, sample characteristics, data cleaning, and the full survey results in question order, see our main results article.

All representation figures use the 830 licensed-nurse base. Party columns in the representation and civic-action tables include only the 666 nurses who identified as Republican, Democrat, or independent; the 164 nurses who selected “prefer not to say,” “something else,” or did not answer the party question are included in the All column and in the 83.5% figure, but not shown as a party column because those categories are too mixed to report as a party group.

Civic actions are self-reported from a six-option “select all that apply” list. “At least one action” counts nurses who selected any activity other than “none of the above.” “Beyond encouraging others to vote” counts nurses who did anything besides encourage others to vote. When a nurse selected “None of these” alongside another activity, we disregarded “None of these” and counted the substantive activity.

The 24-year Gallup honesty-and-ethics streak for nurses, and the 75% very-high-or-high rating, are from Gallup’s ethics poll fielded December 1-15, 2025 and released January 12, 2026.

The survey asked an optional question for respondents to identify as Republican, Democrat, independent, or another category. The optional written-answer questions did not ask about candidates, parties, or political labels. About one in seven nurses who wrote in their own words brought up a politician, a party, or a political label on their own. Democrats, Republicans, and independents all did. We quote nurses here on the themes they raised themselves, not on candidates.

Nurse.org Original Research