When asked to respond in their own words, 43% of voters list the economy as the single most important issue right now. That ties last week's high. Three of the last 4 surveys have hit yearly highs (43% this week and last, and 42% September 8-9).
In a distant second, at 11%, there is a tie for social issues, along with the combination of foreign policy (4%), Iran (5%), and war (2%)*. Prior to this week, concern about Iran hit all-time lows for 2 consecutive weeks.
Partisan Differences
As usual, the economy is the top concern for Republicans and Democrats. However, the number of Republicans listing the economy continues to grow. This week, 52% named it the top issue, up from 50% last week. About 4-in-10 Democrats (37%) agree, down 2 points from last week.
After the economy, there are slight differences in party focus.
Eleven percent (11%) of Republicans see immigration as the top issue, giving it the second spot, followed by social issues (10%).
For Democrats, 11% say healthcare is the most important issue right now, and another 10% list social issues.
Behind the Data
There are many ways to ask about the importance of issues. Napolitan News routinely asks an open-ended question that is categorized and summarized by using Jigsaw's open-source Sensemaker tool, which is built on top of Gemeni, Google's most advanced AI, so that voters can answer the question in their own words.
Consistently, whether given a list or in open-ended responses, economic issues are the top concerns.
Our most recent list-format results are included in our September 28-29 poll. In those results, the economy, inflation, and health care continue to be voters' primary concerns, and have since May.
*When tracking open-ended responses throughout the war in Iran, we have grouped foreign policy, Iran, and war into a single category.
This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, September 28-29, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.
