PRINCETON, NJ -- American voters rate the economy as the most important issue to their vote for Congress this year, and give the Republicans in Congress a slight edge over the Democrats as best able to handle it. Voters give four other issues lower, but still above-average, importance -- the federal deficit, taxes, the Affordable Care Act, and income and wealth inequality. Voters see Republicans as better able to handle the first two, while Democrats have the edge on the latter two.
These results are from an April 24-30 Gallup survey. Registered voters were asked to rate the importance of nine issues to their vote for Congress, and then asked to indicate which party would do a better job on each issue. The accompanying graph displays the ranking of these nine issues on both of these dimensions simultaneously. The higher the issue is on the vertical axis, the more important voters say it is to their vote, while the further to the right it is, the greater the perceived Democratic advantage.
Inequality, Same-Sex Marriage, Global Warming More Important to Democrats
Republicans and Democrats rate the importance of four of the issues similarly, including agreeing on the economy's importance. Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to rate global warming, same-sex marriage, and income and wealth inequality as important. Although same-sex marriage and global warming may have lower potential payoff in terms of the overall voting population, given their below-average importance ratings, they may still be campaign issues that Democrats can use to motivate their voting base.
Republicans give two issues a higher level of importance than do the Democrats -- the federal budget deficit and taxes.
Implications
American voters have a clearly differentiated sense of which issues will or will not be important to their vote for Congress this year. They give economy-related issues, including the distribution of income and wealth, along with the Affordable Care Act, above-average importance. Hot-button issues such as immigration and global warming, and issues that have been much in the news recently, such as foreign affairs and immigration, have below-average importance.
There is universal agreement across party lines on the importance of the economy this year, and Republicans have a slight perceptual advantage as the party best able to handle the issue, perhaps partly stemming from the blame the voters may place on the party that currently controls the White House. On the other hand, opinions diverge on the importance of issues such as global warming and same-sex marriage, with Democrats much more focused on these issues than Republicans are. While these issues may not have broad salience, they may work well as issues Democrats can use to motivate their voter base -- vitally important in midterm elections in which turnout can be as important as changing people's minds about who can best handle an issue.
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Republicans Have Edge on Top Election Issue: the Economy