Healthcare Edges Up in Public's List of Priorities

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The war in Iraq remains the dominant public policy issue in the eyes of the American public, according to Gallup's monthly update of what Americans think should be the top priority for the president and Congress. About three in four Americans (76%) say the Iraq war should be the top government priority right now, similar to the percentage choosing Iraq last month. Healthcare ranks second, at 27%, which is a few percentage points higher than the findings from January, and the highest level seen in more than a year. The general state of the economy and immigration are each mentioned by 11% of Americans.

The Feb. 22-25, 2007, poll asked respondents to name, in their own words, what should be the "top priority for the president and Congress to deal with."

Healthcare Concerns

The percentage of Americans saying that healthcare should be the top priority for the government has edged up 5 percentage points since January 2007 and 15 points since December 2006. While healthcare issues have typically been among the top priorities for the government in the minds of Americans, the percentage mentioning healthcare ranged from 9% to 14% in 2006, resulting in an average of only 12%. So far this year, mentions of healthcare as the top government priority have averaged 25%.

Over the past two months, healthcare concerns have been rising among Americans of all age groups, but much more so among those aged 55 and older than among those who are younger. Mentions of healthcare-related issues increased 21 points among those aged 55 and older from December 2006 (10%) to February 2007 (31%). By comparison, over this time period, this percentage only increased 12 points (16% to 28%) among those aged 35 to 54, and 13 points (10% to 23%) among those aged 18 to 34. Healthcare concerns are now at their highest levels seen among all three age groups on this trend since Gallup first asked the question in April 2006.

Women (30%) are slightly more likely than men (25%) to say healthcare-related issues should be the top government priority right now. The percentages for both men and women are at their highest point since Gallup first asked this question in April 2006, but the percentages have increased more so among women (18 points) than men (13 points) since late last year.

Iraq War Concerns

The situation in Iraq continues to dominate the public's list of the top priorities for the president and Congress to deal with right now. The latest poll finds 76% of Americans saying Iraq should be the top priority, the highest percentage to date, though only 2 percentage points higher than last month. From April 2006 through September 2006, an average of 46% of Americans told Gallup that Iraq should be the top government priority. Since then, this percentage mentioning Iraq has gradually increased and has averaged 75% so far this year.

The Iraq war is the most salient problem among both Democrats (including independents who lean toward the Democratic Party) and Republicans (including Republican-leaning independents), but Democrats have consistently been more likely than Republicans to say the war should be the top priority for the government.

The current poll finds a 23-point gap between Democrats' (87%) and Republicans' (64%) mentions of Iraq as the top government priority. The average gap during the past 11 months is 14 points, with a range of 5 to 23 points. Republicans have shown little change in recent months in their views that Iraq is the top government priority. However, Democrats' views reached a new high this month, up 9 points since last month.

Survey Methods

Results for this panel study are based on telephone interviews with 1,018 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 22-25, 2007. Respondents were randomly drawn from Gallup's nationally representative household panel, which was originally recruited through random selection methods. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 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.