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Which issues matter most? Share of likely Republican primary voters who said each issue was among the most important to determining their primary vote

The top {{ top_n }} issues are shown. Other issues are {{ other_issues }}. Respondents could select up to three issues from a list of 20, with additional options for something else and dont know.

Next, we presented likely Republican primary voters with a list of 20 issues and asked them to pick up to three that would be most important in determining their vote. By far, the two most cited issues were getting inflation or costs under control (49 percent) and controlling immigration (48 percent). That was also the case the last four times we conducted this poll, although in the past, respondents were significantly more likely to pick inflation than immigration. The closing gap could be because inflation is easing while immigration officials are encountering a record number of people attempting to cross the southern border. Meanwhile, issues like limiting abortion and improving election security were not cited by even 10 percent of respondents.

Finally, we also asked about several topics that have recently been in the news. For example, 73 percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat familiar with the U.S. House voting to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, and 83 percent said they were very or somewhat familiar with Colorados and Maines rulings that Trump should be disqualified from the primary ballot (those rulings have both been stayed pending a final decision by the U.S. Supreme Court). Unsurprisingly, 84 percent of likely Republican primary voters felt the efforts to remove Trump from the ballot were politically motivated, while just 21 percent thought they were justified by the law (respondents could say both were true). But they dont think those efforts are going anywhere anyway: Only 24 percent of respondents thought it was very or somewhat likely that those rulings would stay in place. In fact, a plurality (47 percent) of respondents thought these efforts would actually make Trump more likely to win in a general election against Biden only 15 percent thought they would make Trump less likely to win.

We also asked about Haleys recent answer to a voters question about what caused the Civil War. She did not mention slavery but rather cited the role of government and what the rights of the people are. (She later clarified that of course slavery was one of the causes of the war.) Our poll found that more likely Republican primary voters thought slavery was a major cause of the Civil War (68 percent) than thought that the role of the federal government was a major cause (56 percent). Only 7 percent thought slavery was not a cause of the war, while 10 percent thought the role of the federal government wasnt.

However, Haleys response may not hurt her much among voters, simply because they didnt hear about it. (The gaffe came during the week between Christmas and New Years Day when many Americans probably werent paying attention.) In the poll, only 46 percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat familiar with the exchange, while 30 percent said they had not heard of it at all.

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Where Do Republican Voters Stand Ahead Of The New Hampshire Primary? - FiveThirtyEight

The use of the phrase from the river to the sea has come under particular scrutiny in the last three months. When Palestinians, or anyone on the left, has used the phrase to demand a free Palestineas in the popular chant, From the river to the sea, Palestine will be freethose on the right have disingenuously argued that it is calling for the death of all Jewish people in Israel.

Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was censured by Congress last year for her use of the phrase. Many Democrats joined Republicans in condemning her, minutes after she used a floor speech to condemn both rising Islamophobia and antisemitism in the wake of Israels deadly assault on Gaza.

From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate, Tlaib wrote in an effort to clarify her language as the bad-faith critics amassed against her. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.

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Oklahoma Republican Introduces Shortest, Most Racist Bill You've Ever Read - The New Republic

House Speaker Mike Johnson also threw his weight behind the former president and rejected the ruling, calling it nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack.

Trumps primary competitors joined the fray, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has staked his campaign on positioning himself as a foil to Trump.

Christie, answering a question at a town hall in Bedford, New Hampshire, said the ruling was probably premature because Trump hasnt been tried for inciting insurrection.

I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being president of the United States by any court. I think he should be prevented from being president of the United States by the voters of this country, Christie said, adding that he had not yet had a chance to read the ruling that came out while he was en route to his campaign event.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley echoed Christies remarks. We dont need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions, she said in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

She added at a campaign event : Were going to win this the right way.

Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to withdraw his name from the Colorado primary ballot and encouraged his opponents to do the same.

The Framers of the 14th Amendment would be appalled to see this narrow provisionintended to bar former U.S. officials who switched to the Confederacy from seeking public officebeing weaponized by a sitting President and his political allies to prevent a former President from seeking reelection, Ramaswamy wrote in a social media post .

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another of Trumps primary rivals, also attacked what he saw as judicial overreach. The Left invokes democracy to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse, he wrote on a post on X.

GOP Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were among the many other Republicans to denounce the ruling on social media.

This is extreme judicial activism that is designed to suppress the vote and voices of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, which is absolutely unacceptable, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said in a post to X.

Kari Lake, who famously refused to concede her loss in the 2022 Arizona governor race, called for the Supreme Court to block the state courts ruling.

Shortly after the ruling was announced, a spokesperson for Trumps campaign said that the former president would file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lisa Kashinsky, Kelly Garrity and Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.

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GOP rallies around Trump after Colorado ballot ruling - POLITICO

The Republican prosecutor in Sheboygan County has appealed a Dane County judges ruling that an 1849 law widely interpreted as a near-complete ban on abortions only applies to feticide and not consensual abortions.

But shortly after he filed the appeal with a state district court Wednesday, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski said he plans to also file a petition in the next few weeks to have the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court hear the case directly.

He said a direct appeal to the states highest court could provide the speedy and conclusive end to this dispute that I believe our citizens want, according to a statement first reported by WisPolitics.com. I believe it would be in the best interests of the State as a whole for this issue to be considered and resolved by our Supreme Court immediately.

Urmanskis petition before the 2nd District Court of Appeals asks the court to overturn a 1994 case that led to the determination that the law only applies to feticide. Additionally, he questions whether Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul had standing to bring the lawsuit that led to the Dane County ruling.

Urmanski didnt respond to a request for comment asking whether hell withdraw his appeal if and when he goes directly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Urmanskis appeal seeks to reanimate a 19th century criminal abortion ban, taking away peoples abilities to make decisions about their own lives and futures, said Michelle Velasquez, chief strategy officer for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

She said the organization will continue offering abortions in Milwaukee and Madison and will follow through with its plans to reopen its Sheboygan abortion clinic.

Kaul told the Wisconsin State Journal that he was confident the law is on his side.

Reproductive health care decisions should be made by women, not by the government, he said. As this case moves forward, we will continue standing up for access to safe and legal abortion in Wisconsin.

Dane County Judge Diane Schlippers preliminary ruling in July clarifying the scope of the 1849 law led to the resumption of abortion services in Wisconsin two months later. She issued a final ruling in the case earlier this month.

Abortions were stopped in Wisconsin after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 because many legal experts and abortion providers assumed the 1849 law banned virtually all abortions.

In his lawsuit filed days after that decision, Kaul argued the 1849 law conflicted with later, more permissive abortion bans.

Doctors joined the case late last year to argue that the 174-year-old law didnt apply to abortions at all, but rather only to feticide. They pointed to a 1994 Wisconsin Supreme Court case that found that the law only applied to somebody killing a fetus by assaulting its mother, not consensual abortions.

Its not clear why Kaul didnt initially mention the 1994 case, or why abortion providers closed in June 2022 given the determination in that case.

Kaul initially filed the case against Republican legislative leaders, but he later named as defendants the prosecutors in Dane, Milwaukee and Sheboygan counties, which were home to abortion clinics before Roe was overturned.

"I believe it would be in the best interests of the State as a whole for this issue to be considered and resolved by our Supreme Court immediately."

Joel Urmanski, district attorney for Sheboygan County

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Republican prosecutor appeals Wisconsin abortion ruling - Madison.com

Perhaps no presidential candidate has leaned more into talking about schools than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

Perhaps no presidential candidate has leaned more into talking about schools than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Talking about schools is a reliable applause line for Republican candidates. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, former President Donald Trump got a roar of approval when he talked about race and sexuality in schools.

"On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children," he pledged.

Schools are even more central to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign, and he used the topic to fire up the crowd in November at the Machine Shed restaurant in Davenport, Iowa.

"As the father of a six, five and a three-year-old, I believe that kids should be able to go to school, watch cartoons, just be kids without having an agenda shoved down their throat," he said, to cheers.

The issue of how gender and race are taught in schools has been a major focus for Republican candidates this entire campaign cycle, even while the issue may not really drive votes.

Indeed, it's hard to really tell how much voters care about the topic. When pollsters ask Republican voters their top priorities, the economy tends to come out on top. Immigration is also up there. Foreign policy, sometimes. Often, education is toward the bottom, if it ranks at all.

"People confuse the yelling for the priorities. They confuse passion for prioritization," said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist who has conducted many voter focus groups.

"Yes, transgender and all of that gets people to yell. But that's not what people really care about," he added.

First, an important distinction: in this primary, talking about schools and talking about education are often different things.

A lot of the Republicans' campaign rhetoric hasn't been about student achievement, school choice or standardized testing. Rather, it's about playing out culture wars on the battleground of K-12 schools.

And while that may not be the issue pushing voters toward one candidate or another, schools nevertheless play an important role for candidates. The topic of schools is a powerful tool for the candidates to tell voters the story of who they are.

Trump, for example, uses the topic of schools as a way of telling his crowds that so-called "political correctness" and "wokeism" have gone too far. His argument is that he is the man to stop the excesses of what he calls "the radical left."

DeSantis takes a similar tack, but leans into the issue harder than Trump, using it as an opportunity to tell voters about his record as governor of Florida to show them that he's doing the work of reining in liberals.

In that Davenport speech, for example, he laid out his record: "We enacted a parent's bill of rights. We protected women's sports in Florida. We banned the transgender surgeries for the minor kids in Florida. We enacted universal school choice. We eliminated the ideology, the CRT and the gender ideology in schools."

For former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, it's about presenting herself as no-nonsense, as well as emphasizing her role as the sole woman in the Republican field.

In a stump speech in Waukee, Iowa this month, Haley did address weaknesses in the U.S. education system: "Only 31% of eighth graders are proficient in reading. Thirty-one percent. Only 27% of eighth graders are proficient in math. We don't do something about this, we're going to be in a world of hurt ten years from now."

She also later stressed transgender girls playing girls' sports a topic she has called "the women's issue of our time."

"Strong girls become strong women. Strong women become strong leaders. None of that happens if you have biological boys playing in women's sports. We've got to cut that out," she said.

That line got big applause.

Focusing on cultural issues in schools may fire up the base, but to Luntz, talking about actual educational achievement could win more voters. Luntz points to DeSantis as the candidate he thinks is getting this the most wrong.

"He's using it as a surrogate for the culture wars, and that's not the way to approach education. The public wants to take partisan politics out of education," Luntz explained.

The story of Republican candidates talking about schools goes back to school closures during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Luntz. In addition to worrying about learning loss, parents also got a view of school curricula, and some didn't like what they saw whether it was about culture or simply about how reading and math were taught.

All of that may be true, but according to Heather Harding, schools also got weaponized for political purposes. Harding is educational director of the Campaign for Our Shared Future, which focuses on equity in education.

"I do think that the nation went through a very challenging time during the global pandemic," she said. "I think that the political strategists then leveraged that fear and discontent to really gin up a lot of things in misinformation."

In conversations with Iowa voters over the last few months, few brought up education or schools as a top priority. However, when asked about the issue directly, many did have strong opinions.

Dave Meggers is a farmer who came out to see Trump in Davenport in September. He said the price of fuel is his top concern. But when asked about schools, he talked about working with other parents to influence this local district.

"We're tough on our school board down there on different such situations," he explained. "One thing was, you know, the books in school and stuff like that. And we we were one of the first ones down there to get our kids out of masks, too."

Lori Tiangco was volunteering for DeSantis at a November rally in Des Moines. Unlike Meggers - and many Republican voters - cultural issues in schools are a top priority for her. She spoke about her grandson and how his parents reacted to the school's teaching about LGBT issues.

"They pulled him out and homeschooled him because they didn't want that be enforced on them, which goes against our, you know, the Christian moral values that we have," she said.

But there's a wide range of opinions. At a recent Nikki Haley event in Clear Lake, Stacey Doughan the president of the city's Chamber of Commerce said the focus on culture war issues leaves her cold.

"I think that when you take it down to race and gender, you're really missing the point," she said. "Whatever we need to do to make it so our kids are able to go to school, to enjoy going to school and to learn what they need to learn to be competitive in an international market today is what's really important."

Indeed, that Haley event had at least one voter who disagrees on a key Republican culture war issue.

"This is my only point of contention that I have with her," said Michelle Garland, a psychology professor at nearby Waldorf University, of Haley. "The suicide rate among gay teens is the highest of all groups, and they have a right to be called by whatever gender they prefer to be called by. It's not our business to tell somebody who they are."

That makes Garland unusual among GOP primary voters. But then, this is the thing about prioritization trans kids aren't her top priority. Israel is. And she likes where Haley stands on Israel.

Moreover, Garland is, simply put, a Nikki Haley superfan.

"I fell in love with Nikki the first time she spoke from the U.N.," she remembered. "And then when she announced she was running for president, it just made my day."

So to the extent that Haley is using education to tell voters who she is, voters like Garland don't need to hear it. Garland already liked her from the start.

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Education used to be a policy issue. Now schools are a culture war battleground - NPR