All Major Groups Agree Iraq Should Be Government's Top Focus

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's monthly update on the top priority for the president and Congress shows Americans still tightly focused on Iraq. Two in three Americans mention the war in Iraq as the top priority for the government right now, which is roughly the same level as in March, but somewhat lower than earlier this year. Healthcare, the economy, and immigration are also mentioned as key priorities.

While the war is the top concern for all major demographic subgroups of Americans, there are differences among partisan, age, gender, and racial groups in perceptions of what else the government should be focusing on. In particular, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say terrorism and immigration should be government priorities, while Democrats are more likely to mention Iraq and healthcare.

The April 23-26, 2007, Gallup Panel poll asked Americans to name, in their own words, what should be the "top priority for the president and Congress to deal with." Most Americans, 66%, tell Gallup the top priority should be the war in Iraq. No other issue is mentioned nearly as frequently as Iraq. Healthcare (20%), the general state of the economy (14%), and immigration (14%) follow next. Other issues that at least 3% of Americans mention: fuel prices, the environment, national security, education, terrorism, the federal budget deficit, and Social Security.

The war in Iraq has topped Americans' priority list each time since the Gallup Poll instituted this monthly measure a year ago. In April 2006, 29% of Americans said Iraq should be the top government priority. By June, this percentage increased to 60% before dropping back in July, August, and September, when roughly half of Americans said Iraq should be the top priority. Mentions of Iraq then increased for several months after that, reaching a high of 76% in February, before declining to the mid-60% level in March and April.

So far this year, Americans' concerns about healthcare costs and other health-related issues have been higher than at any other time last year. The current 20% reading is roughly the same as what Gallup measured in March, but is lower than the 27% measured in February. 

Because Americans' top priorities for the government have varied only modestly this year, Gallup combined the results of its surveys from January 2007 through April 2007 to more closely examine the views of population subgroups. Broadly, Iraq is the dominant concern for all major subgroups of Americans, but still, some issues are more important to some groups than others are.

Party Affiliation . The Iraq war is the dominant issue for both Democrats and Republicans, but Democrats (84%) mention the war more frequently than do Republicans (60%). Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say healthcare (27% vs. 18%) or the environment (8% vs. 1%) should be top government priorities. Republicans, on the other hand, more frequently mention immigration (21% vs. 5%) and national security or terrorism (14% vs. 2%).

Republicans and Democrats differ little in their views that the economy, fuel prices, education, the federal budget deficit, or Social Security should be top priorities for the government.

Gender . Women -- who are more likely than men to be Democrats -- are more likely than men to say the war in Iraq (76% vs. 67%) and healthcare (27% vs. 19%) should be the top priorities for the president and Congress at this time.

Age . There are only minor variations among Americans at different age levels.

Age and Gender . There are some small differences among men and women according to their age on concerns about Iraq and national security or terrorism.

• Men younger than age 50 are the least likely group to say the war in Iraq should be the top priority for the president and Congress to deal with right now. Sixty-four percent of men in this age group mention Iraq, compared with 72% of men aged 50 and older, 74% of women aged 18 to 49, and 77% of women aged 50 and older.

• Younger men (13%) are more likely than older men (5%) or women of any age (6% of both younger and older women) to mention national security or terrorism as the top priority.

Race . Whites and blacks are fairly similar in their views of the top priority for the government at this time, but whites (14%) are slightly more likely than blacks (6%) to mention immigration.  

Survey Methods

Results for this panel study are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 23-26, 2007. Respondents were 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 margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 4,038 national adults interviewed in four polls from January 2007 through April 2007, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points for each individual survey.

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.