Top Issues for Voters

The five opinion polls below show what issues Americans care about in the 2020 presidential election. See the issues that matter most to Democrats, Republicans, and independents, and to voters overall.

1. Climate Nexus in partnership with Yale and George Mason University

2. Harvard University Center for American Political Studies and The Harris Poll

3. Gallup Poll

4. Hill-HarrisX Poll

5. Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel

Source: Shutterstock.com

1. Climate Nexus in partnership with Yale and George Mason University

The Climate Nexus poll asked, "Below are some issues that may factor into deciding your vote for President in November 2020. In making your decision about who to vote for, which two issues are the most important to your vote? Please select two issues."

Top 3 Issues by Political Affiliation

1. Democrats: health care (43%), climate change (29%), economy and jobs/Trump's record as president (20%)

2. Republicans: economy and jobs (33%), immigration (30%), healthcare (24%)

3. Independents: health care (36%), economy and jobs (29%), climate change (19%)

Issue	All Voters	Democrats	Independents	Republicans
1. Health care	34%	43%	36%	24%
2. Economy and jobs	27%	20%	29%	33%
3. Immigration	19%	10%	15%	30%
4. Social Security	19%	18%	17%	20%
5. Climate change	18%	29%	19%	6%
6. Trump's record as president	18%	20%	14%	17%
7. Gun policy	13%	15%	11%	11%
8. Federal taxes and spending	12%	10%	16%	14%
9. Terrorism	12%	7%	11%	17%
10. Education	9%	10%	12%	7%
11. Abortion	7%	6%	6%	9%
12. Foreign policy	5%	5%	8%	5%
13. Supreme Court	4%	4%	3%	4%
14. Opioid epidemic	2%	2%	2%	3%

Date: Feb. 6-9, 2020

N=1,934 registered voters in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington (states with Democratic primaries scheduled between Feb. 22, 2020 and Mar. 17, 2020)

Margin of error: +/- 2.3%

2. Harvard University Center for American Political Studies and The Harris Poll

The Jan. 2020 monthly Harvard-Harris Poll asked, "What would you say are the most important issues facing the country today? Please select three."

Top 3 Issues by Political Affiliation

1. Democrats: health care (47%), environment / climate change (33%), guns (27%)

2. Republicans: immigration (43%), terrorism / national security (41%), health care (28%)

3. Independents: health care (38%), immigration (26%), economy and jobs (25%)

Issue	All Voters	Democrats	Independents	Republicans
1. Health care	38%	47%	38%	28%
2. Immigration	29%	21%	26%	43%
3. Terrorism / national security	26%	18%	22%	41%
4. Economy and jobs	24%	21%	25%	26%
5. Environment / climate change	23%	33%	24%	11%
6. Guns	19%	27%	16%	12%
7. National debt / federal budget deficits	19%	12%	24%	22%
8. Corruption	15%	14%	18%	13%
9. Crime and drugs	13%	12%	12%	16%
10. Taxes	12%	11%	13%	16%
11. Education	11%	13%	11%	10%
12. Income inequality	11%	13%	11%	10%
13. Foreign Policy	9%	7%	10%	9%
14. School safety	8%	9%	8%	6%
15. Race relations	8%	10%	7%	5%
16. Criminal justice (policing, courts, prisons)	7%	8%	6%	7%
17. Cybersecurity	7%	5%	7%	9%
18. Defense	7%	5%	6%	10%
19. Women's rights	6%	8%	6%	5%
20. Political correctness	6%	3%	7%	8%
21. Other	2%	2%	3%	2%

Date: Jan. 27-29, 2020

N=2,527 registered voters

Margin of error: not specified

3. Gallup Poll

Gallup's "Importance of Issues to U.S. Adults' Votes in 2020 Presidential Election" poll asked respondents to rate 16 issues on how important they were as a factor in deciding who to vote for in the presidential election. The table below shows what percentage of people rated the issues as "extremely important."

Top 3 Issues by Political Affiliation

1. Democrats: health care (49%), gun policy (46%), climate change (44%)

2. Republicans: terrorism and national security (38%), the economy (30%), immigration (30%)

3. Independents: health care (36%), terrorism and national security (33%), education (33%)

Issue	All Voters	Democrats	Independents	Republicans
1. Health care	35%	49%	36%	22%
2. Terrorism and national security	34%	33%	33%	38%
3. Gun policy	34%	46%	31%	26%
4. Education	33%	43%	33%	23%
5. The economy	30%	30%	29%	30%
6. Immigration	28%	28%	26%	30%
7. Climate change	26%	44%	27%	8%
8. Abortion	25%	23%	25%	28%
9. The distribution of income and wealth in the US	25%	37%	25%	12%
10. The federal budget deficit	23%	22%	26%	23%
11. Taxes	23%	24%	23%	21%
12. Race relations	23%	33%	24%	11%
13. The nation's infrastructure	22%	28%	22%	17%
14. Foreign affairs	21%	27%	23%	15%
15. Trade with other nations	18%	21%	19%	15%
16. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights	11%	18%	11%	5%

Date: Dec. 2-15, 2019

N=1,025 randomly sampled US adults age 18+

Margin of error: +/- 4.0%

4. Hill-HarrisX Poll

The nationwide poll conducted by The Hill and HarrisX asked, "What is the most important issue facing the nation today?"

Top 3 Issues by Political Affiliation

1. Democrats: health care (17%), environment / climate change (11%), guns (11%)

2. Republicans: terrorism / national security (19%), immigration (17%), health care (15%)

3. Independents: health care (12%), terrorism / national security (11%), economy and jobs and environment / climate change (tied at 10%)

Issue	All Voters	Democrats	Independents	Republicans
1. Health care	15%	17%	12%	15%
2. Terrorism / national security	12%	8%	11%	19%
3. Immigration	10%	4%	9%	17%
4. Economy and jobs	10%	8%	10%	14%
5. Environment / climate change	8%	11%	10%	4%
6. Guns	7%	11%	7%	1%
7. Corruption	6%	3%	9%	5%
8. National debt / federal budget deficits	4%	4%	5%	4%
9. Crime and drugs	4%	5%	3%	5%
10. Other	4%	4%	6%	3%
11. Education	3%	4%	2%	4%
12. Income inequality	3%	3%	4%	1%
13. School safety	3%	5%	4%	1%
14. Race relations	2%	5%	0%	0%
15. Women's rights	2%	4%	2%	1%
16. Criminal justice (policing, courts, prisons)	2%	2%	2%	1%
17. Foreign Policy	1%	1%	1%	1%
18. Cybersecurity	1%	1%	1%	2%
19. Political correctness	1%	0%	1%	1%
20. Defense	0%	0%	0%	1%

Date: Dec. 8-9, 2019

N=1,000 registered voters

Margin of error: +/- 3.1%

5. Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel

The Pew Research Center asked participants which issues are a "very big problem facing the country."

Top 3 Issues by Political Affiliation

1. Democrats: affordability of health care (77%), climate change (73%), economic inequality (66%)

2. Republicans: drug addiction (68%), illegal immigration (67%), federal budget deficit (54%)

Data for independents not available.

Issue	All Voters	Democrats	Republicans
1. Affordability of health care	66%	77%	51%
2. Drug addiction	64%	61%	68%
3. Affordability of a college education	55%	65%	43%
4. Federal budget deficit	53%	52%	54%
5. Climate change	48%	73%	17%
6. Economic inequality	44%	66%	19%
7. Racism	43%	62%	21%
8. Illegal immigration	43%	23%	67%
9. Terrorism	39%	36%	41%
10. Sexism	26%	36%	14%
11. Job opportunities for all Americans	25%	34%	14%

Date: Sep. 3-15, 2019

N=9,895 randomly selected US adults

Margin of error: +/- 1.5%

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