GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans continue to be more likely to name Iraq as the nation's top problem than any other concern. This month's update shows a significant drop in the percentage of Americans who cite any economic issue as the most important problem, likely due to declining concern about gas prices. In addition to Iraq and economic concerns, other prominent public concerns include terrorism, dissatisfaction with the way government is run, immigration, healthcare, and decline in morality and ethics. Concern about immigration is now lower than it was in the late spring and early summer.
For decades, the Gallup Poll has been asking Americans to name the most important problem facing the country today. The results for the last five months, including the Oct. 9-12, 2006 update, are as follows (see Related Items for the complete results):
What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today? [Open-ended]
|
Recent Trend |
Oct 9-12, 2006 |
Sep 7-10, 2006 |
Aug 7-10, 2006 |
Jul 6-9, 2006 |
Jun 1-4, 2006 |
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
|
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
19 |
26 |
35 |
27 |
31 |
|
Economy in general |
8 |
11 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
|
Unemployment/jobs |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
Fuel/Oil prices |
2 |
5 |
15 |
9 |
11 |
|
Federal budget deficit/federal debt |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
|
Taxes |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Lack of money |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Wage issues |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
* |
|
High cost of living/inflation |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Gap between rich and poor |
* |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Corporate corruption |
* |
* |
* |
* |
1 |
|
Foreign trade/trade deficit |
* |
* |
1 |
-- |
* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
84 |
80 |
81 |
78 |
80 |
|
Situation in Iraq/war |
28 |
24 |
26 |
25 |
27 |
|
Terrorism |
11 |
11 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
|
Dissatisfaction with government/ Congress/politicians/candidates; poor leadership; corruption |
11 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
|
Immigration/illegal aliens |
7 |
9 |
8 |
10 |
18 |
|
Poor health care/ hospitals; high cost of healthcare |
6 |
4 |
6 |
9 |
7 |
|
Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; lack of integrity |
6 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
|
Education/poor education/access to education |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
|
Poverty/hunger/homelessness |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
Foreign aid/focus overseas |
4 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
|
National security |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
International issues/problems |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Crime/violence |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
Situation in North Korea |
2 |
-- |
* |
2 |
-- |
|
Social Security |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Drugs |
1 |
* |
1 |
* |
1 |
|
Environment/Pollution |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Children's behavior/way they are raised |
1 |
* |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Lack of energy sources; the energy crisis |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
|
School shootings |
1 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Unifying the country |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Lack of respect for each other |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
War in the Middle East |
1 |
1 |
3 |
-- |
-- |
|
Abuse of power |
1 |
* |
* |
* |
1 |
|
Welfare |
1 |
1 |
1 |
* |
1 |
|
Lack of military defense |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
|
Judicial system/courts/laws |
* |
2 |
* |
1 |
1 |
|
Medicare |
* |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
The media |
* |
* |
1 |
* |
1 |
|
Care for the elderly |
* |
* |
* |
1 |
* |
|
Guns/gun control |
* |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Race relations/racism |
* |
1 |
* |
* |
* |
|
Abortion |
* |
* |
1 |
1 |
* |
|
Natural disaster relief effort and funding |
* |
2 |
* |
* |
1 |
|
Homosexuality/gay rights issues |
* |
* |
* |
1 |
* |
|
Election year/presidential choices/election reform |
-- |
* |
-- |
* |
* |
|
Overpopulation |
-- |
* |
* |
* |
-- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other non-economic |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No opinion |
3 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Total |
128% |
131% |
145% |
127% |
146% |
|
Percentages total to more than 100% due to multiple responses. |
|||||
|
* = Less than 0.5% |
|||||
Analysis of these data suggest the following:
1. Iraq remains the most important single problem mentioned by Americans in response to this question. The high frequency of mentions of Iraq as the nation's top problem has been the case for most months since the spring of 2004.
Although 28% of Americans mention Iraq as the nation's top problem, this is substantially below the percentage of Americans who in past years have mentioned other international conflicts as the top problem facing the country. At times in 1966, 1967, and 1968, for example, more than half of Americans spontaneously mentioned Vietnam as the nation's most important problem. Similarly, more than half of Americans mentioned war as the nation's top problem during the Korean conflict in 1951 and 1952.
2. There has been a downturn in the percentage of Americans who mention aspects of the economy as the most important problem facing the country today. The current 19% who mention economic concerns is the lowest such percentage since May 1999.
The most likely factor in this downturn is the drop in the spontaneous mention of oil and gas prices as the nation's top problem.
At this point, only 2% say that the price of fuel/oil is the nation's top problem. In May, when the price of gas spiked to more than $3.00 per gallon in most parts of the country, the percentage saying that the price of oil/gas was the nation's top problem was 22%. The recently strong performance of the stock market may also be related to the downturn in the mention of economic issues as the nation's top concerns.
3. Concerns about terrorism remain at a slightly higher level than where they had been previously. For the last three months, 12% to 16% of Americans have mentioned terrorism/national security as the top problem facing the country, up from as low as 6% in June.
The top of mind salience of terrorism waxes and wanes depending on news events, rising to as high as 17% in July 2005, after the London bombings, and 19% in September 2004, when the issue had been a centerpiece of the Republican convention and Bush's campaign for presidency.
4. Eleven percent of Americans mention concerns about government as the nation's top problem, just slightly higher than what we have measured in recent months.
5. Mentions of immigration as the top problem facing the country are now at 7%. This is a significant drop off from previous months. In April, for example, 19% of Americans mentioned immigration as the country's top problem. The long-term trend shows that very few Americans have traditionally mentioned immigration as the nation's biggest problem. The immigration issue flared up in the public's consciousness this spring, but apparently is now dying off again.
6. Only 2% of Americans mention the situation in North Korea as the nation's top problem (the poll was conducted Oct. 9-12).
7. One percent of the public mentions school shootings in this survey; they had not been mentioned in previous months.
8. A number of other specific domestic issues are mentioned by 2% to 7% of the population: healthcare, decline in morality, education, poverty and homelessness, and crime and violence.
Partisan Differences
As has been the case in previous surveys, Republicans are significantly more likely to mention terrorism as the top concern than independents or Democrats are. In fact, terrorism trumps even Iraq as Republicans' most pressing national concern.
|
Most Important Problem Facing the Country, by Party |
||||
|
Republicans |
Independents |
Democrats |
||
|
Terrorism 21% |
Iraq/War 23% |
Iraq/War 36% |
||
|
Iraq/War 17% |
Govt/Corruption 12% |
Govt/Corruption 11% |
||
|
Immigration 11% |
Terrorism 7% |
Economy 10% |
||
|
Govt/Corruption 9% |
Economy 7% |
Unemployment 6% |
||
|
Economy 7% |
Immigration 6% |
Healthcare 6% |
||
|
|
Healthcare 6% |
Terrorism 6% |
||
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,001 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Oct. 9-12, 2006. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
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