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Americans Want Next President to Focus on Education, Social Security, and Healthcare

Americans Want Next President to Focus on Education, Social Security, and Healthcare

Unlike previous elections, no one issue dominates -- which may increase voter emphasis on character and style

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- What is it exactly that Americans are looking for their president to do when he is elected and takes office next January? In this past weekend's Gallup Poll, Americans were asked just that: "Regardless of who wins the election, what single issue or challenge are you most interested in having the next president address when he takes office next January?"

There have been times in the nation's history when the answer to this question might have been overwhelmingly focused on one particular issue. In 1952, the Korean War was a dominant theme. In 1980, it was inflation, gas shortages and the Iranian hostage situation. In 1992, as made famous by Clinton's campaign's exhortation to focus on "the economy, stupid," there was little question that the economy was the number one priority for the next president to address, including Ross Perot's intense efforts to make the federal deficit the top issue.

At this juncture in our nation's history, on the other hand, there are no such dominant issues on which the public overwhelmingly wants its next president to focus. In fact, the responses to the Gallup Poll question are so dispersed across issues that the next president's inauguration speech could well take hours if he attempted to specify how he would plan to deal with each. Although new issues and crises can certainly arise at any time, the poll data suggest that the next president's agenda may well start as a quite general one, rather than one focused on solving one or two major problems or dealing with a major national concern.

Here are the specifics:

Regardless of who wins the election, what single issue or challenge are you most interested in having the next President address when he takes office next January?

   

Education

12%

Social Security

9

Healthcare/healthcare costs/healthcare reform

9

Taxes

6

The economy

5

Abortion

4

Gun control

4

Care for the elderly

4

Medicare

3

Poverty/the poor/homelessness

2

Defense/national defense

2

Foreign policy

2

Cost of prescription drugs

2

Gas prices

2

Federal deficit

2

Welfare/welfare reform

2

These issues are well known to the two leading candidates in this year's presidential race, and both George W. Bush and Al Gore have already begun the process of staking out positions on them, one by one, with speeches, proposals and pronouncements. Before the campaign ends in November, there is no doubt that voters will be deluged with even more input on the candidates' positions.

At the same time, it may be possible that the issue-overload represented by these data -- in which there is no one dominant issue but rather dozens of more targeted ones -- may in some ways increase the probability that the candidates' personalities and character will play a more important than usual role in voters' decisions. Gallup Poll analyses done earlier this year have already suggested that voter perceptions of the issue positions of the candidates are less predictive of the vote than are such dimensions as leadership and style.

Are Americans Inwardly Focused This Election Year?
One conclusion suggested by these responses: Americans are in a relatively "what's-in-it-for-me" mood this year. In sharp contrast to the proclamation 40 years ago from President John F. Kennedy that Americans should ask what they can do for their country, rather than what their country can do for them, these responses suggest that the public is indeed more focused on what their government can do for them in this election cycle. While voters' mentions of issues such as "education" could signal a concern for other people's children and the state of education in general, the fact that education loses its priority among older groups suggests that people are looking out for what affects them personally the most. Clearly, Social Security, healthcare, taxes and the economy are all issues that have direct pocketbook implications for the average American. If the next president can take away any message from these findings, it is perhaps that he will be called upon to use his office and the forces of government to make the personal lives of the people who elected him better, particularly economically. (Additionally, it is worth noting the very low priority given to foreign affairs -- traditionally one of the major roles fulfilled by the nation's chief executive and commander in chief of the armed forces).

Differences by Party, Gender and Age
There are interesting differences in the priorities for the next president between Americans who are voting for Gore and those voting for Bush:

Bush Voters

Gore Voters

   

Education

12%

Education

20%

Social Security

10

Healthcare/healthcare costs

16

Abortion

8

Social Security

14

Healthcare/healthcare reform

8

The economy

9

Taxes

8

Medicare

4

Gun control

7

Care for the elderly

4

Defense/national defense

6

Poverty/the poor

4

Care for the elderly

4

Gun control

4

Foreign affairs

4

Prescription drug costs

4

Moral issues/ethics/religion

4

Abortion

3

   

Gas prices

3

   

The environment/pollution

3

   

Foreign affairs

3

   

Welfare/welfare reform

3

Two of the most important differences by party concern abortion and taxes -- both top five issues for Republicans, but not for Democrats. The economy and Medicare, on the other hand, are top concerns for Democrats, but are a lower priority for Republicans.

There are also sharp differences between men and women in their priorities for the next president:

Men

Women

   
       

Education

12%

Healthcare

12%

Taxes

9

Education

11

Social Security

7

Social Security

10

The economy

7

Abortion

6

Gun control

6

Care for the elderly

4

Health care

5

Medicare

4

Defense

4

Taxes

3

Gas prices

3

The economy

3

Care for the elderly

3

Gun control

3

The federal deficit

3

Foreign policy

2

Foreign policy

3

Poverty/poor/homelessness

2

   

Crime

2

   

Welfare/welfare policy

2

   

Prescription drug costs

2

Several key patterns emerge from these data:

  • Education is important to both genders, as is Social Security.
  • Healthcare is the single most important issue for women, but drops down the list considerably among men.
  • Men are more interested than are women in the next president attacking the economy and taxes.
  • Gun control and defense are higher priorities for men than they are for women.

Other important differences by demographic groups:

  • Education is an extraordinarily important issue for non-whites, 27% of whom say that it should be the highest priority for the next president, compared to only 13% of whites who name education.
  • For Americans 65 and older, perhaps not surprisingly, the top priorities are Social Security, care for the elderly and healthcare.
  • For younger Americans, 18-29, education dominates, mentioned by 19% of this group, followed by a number of concerns that tie for second including abortion, healthcare, Social Security, the economy and gun control.

Survey Methods
The results above are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,001 adults, 18 years and older, conducted July 6-9, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 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.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/2743/Americans-Want-Next-President-Focus-Education-Social-Security.aspx
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