When asked to respond in their own words, the economy continues its stranglehold atop the list of voter concerns as the single most important political issue today. Nearly 4 in 10 (37%) name it as the single most important issue, and another 2% list oil and gas.
However, there is a shakeup in the slots below the economy:
Foreign Policy Fears Continue To Cool
In a poll conducted days before President Trump announced the end of the ceasefire with Iran, the war slipped to number 4*.
Currently, the number 2 and 3 issues are Politics (12%) and Immigration (12%). Immigration likely returned to the top slots as a result of the recent ruling on birthright citizenship.
From March to nearly the end of April, Iran topped the open-ended list of voter concerns. Since that time, it has held second place, until now. This shift coincides with hints of improvement on voters' perceptions of personal finances and the economy.
We will be watching next week's results closely to see how the end of the ceasefire impacts these results.
Partisan Differences in Top Issues
The economy is by far the most important issue for Republicans (40%) and Democrats (35%).
For Democrats, the a distant second is Politics (16%), followed by the War/Iran/Foreign Policy (12%).
For Republicans, the number 2 issue is Immigration (21%), followed by the War/Iran/Foreign Policy (12%).
The Republican focus on Immigration is likely spurred by the recent ruling on birthright citizenship.
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 built on to of Gemini, Google's most advanced AI, so that voters can answer the question in their own words.
Consistently, in both the list and open-ended format, economic issues are the top issues.
Our most recent list-format results are from our May 26th poll.
*When tracking open-ended responses throughout the war in Iran, we grouped Foreign Policy, War, and Iran into a single category.
