New Poll Reveals the Top Policy Priorities of Americans in 2023

A poll of American voters shows that Tuesday will see a new Congress take power. economic Issues continue to be a priority over other policy areas.

Republicans held narrow control of the House of Representatives, while Democrats won one seat in Senate. This broke the federal trifecta that allowed President Joe Biden’s administration to pass much of its legislative agenda. According to a survey, Americans have shifted their attention from inflation to the overall economy in the last six months. poll from the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center.

The poll was conducted between December 1-5 among 1,124 American adults and had a margin error of 3.8%.

A little over 31% of respondents stated in December 2022 they would like to see economic problems addressed by the federal government in the next year. This is an increase of 24% in June 2022. The relative importance inflation In particular, this declined over the same time period. But it represented the second most important topic for respondents with the share calling for federal solutions falling from 40% in June and to 30% in December.

As the Federal Reserve increases its target interest rates, and year-overyear inflation begins to decline, this causes the drop. According to the Federal Reserve, the metric dropped from 9% in June and to 7.1% in November. data Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The third most commonly cited topic is immigration. 27% of Americans mentioned the issue in December. This is slightly more than the 24% who cited it in June. According to the Biden administration’s estimates, 4.9 million migrants entered the United States. data The Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Climate change and reform in health care were two other issues that respondents mentioned. These saw increases of 17%-26%, 6%-17% respectively, and gun issues declined from 30%-19%. Education and student loan remained stable at 19%, while crime rose from 11% and 16%.

American citizens now regard abortion as a top priority, dropping from 16% down to 11%. This June poll was conducted as Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. The ruling affirmed that there is a constitutional right for abortion.

Republicans saw a lackluster performance in the midterms despite the public’s concern over the state of the economy. Voters identified border crossings and record inflation as their top concerns while casting ballots for Democrats at an even higher rate than many observers had predicted. Kevin McCarthy (R.-CA), the House Minority leader, was unveiled as a candidate for Speaker. “Commitment to America” That was before the midterm elections. emphasized Economic stability, border security, crime reduction

The survey found that 68% of Democrats are confident that their legislators can address the pertinent issues. “slightly or not at all confident” The federal government. Only 4% of respondents overall have done so. “much confidence in the government’s ability to make progress on important problems,” 22% are somewhat confident, and 73% have little or no confidence in the government’s ability to address the country’s problems.

Similar results were found for 2023. Only 21% of respondents believe 2023 will be better than 2022. While 24% expect 2023 to be worse than 2022.