Economy Still Top Issue on Voters’ Minds
The economy remains the number one issue on voters' minds, but the number who consider it Very Important has fallen to its lowest level since late 2007. The importance of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also has dropped to record lows.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 74% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the economy as Very Important in terms of how they will vote in the next congressional election. That's down from 76% in April, the first time the finding had been out of the 80s since September 2008. Eighty-seven percent (87%) felt that way as recently as December. Voters have consistently ranked the economy first or second in importance among 10 issues regular surveyed on by Rasmussen Reports for several years. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Health care continues to hold the number two spot in terms of importance. Sixty-nine percent (69%) rate health care as Very Important in terms of how they vote. That's up six points from April, which marked the lowest finding since March of last year.
Most voters continue to support repeal of the national health care law and believe the new law is likely to be repealed.
Voters rank taxes as the third most important voting issue, with 63% rating it Very Important in terms of how they vote. While that's generally in line with findings since February 2009, taxes moved into third place in importance in April for the first time since February of last year.
Most voters continue to feel that tax cuts and decreases in government spending help the U.S. economy.
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Two surveys, each of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide, were conducted on June 12-15, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error for each survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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