GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- The tasks facing President Bush and Congress are now much different from those they confronted one month ago. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have caused a dramatic shift in the priorities of the American public, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. The poll shows that 95% of Americans think it is "extremely" or "very important" for the president and Congress to deal with terrorism in the next year. The percentage of Americans saying that military and defense issues and foreign affairs are important has increased dramatically (by roughly 30 percentage points) when compared to polls taken earlier this year, while the importance attached to most domestic issues other than the economy has declined by about 10 points. To illustrate the shift, education, which had been the top-ranked issue earlier this year, now places fifth in a list of eight issues, trailing three international issues and the economy.
International Issues Viewed as More Important Than Domestic Issues
The poll, conducted Oct. 5-6, asked Americans to rate how important it is for the president and Congress to deal with eight different issues. The results are shown below.
ISSUE SALIENCE SUMMARY TABLE
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
Extremely |
Extremely/very important |
|
% |
% |
|
|
Terrorism |
70 |
95 |
|
Military and defense issues |
57 |
88 |
|
The economy |
54 |
90 |
|
Foreign affairs |
52 |
86 |
|
Education |
46 |
83 |
|
The Social Security and Medicare systems |
42 |
79 |
|
Prescription drugs for older Americans |
37 |
69 |
|
A patient's bill of rights |
30 |
62 |
Not surprisingly, in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Americans overwhelmingly feel that the government should address terrorism. Seven in 10 Americans say it is extremely important for the president and Congress to deal with terrorism and 95% think it is at least very important.
More than half of the public views military and defense issues and foreign affairs as extremely important legislative priorities, putting international issues in three of the top four positions on the list. The only domestic issue that compares in importance is the economy, which 54% rate as extremely important. Other domestic issues are viewed as less important, with education and Social Security and Medicare rated slightly ahead of prescription drug benefits for older Americans and a patient's bill of rights.
Dramatic Shifts in Perceived Importance of Issues
The terrorist attacks have significantly altered the importance Americans attach to these issues, all of which -- except terrorism -- Gallup measured earlier this year. Compared with these earlier ratings, Americans find foreign affairs, military and defense issues, and the economy much more important, and give much lower ratings to education, prescription drugs for older Americans, and a patient's bill of rights.
Last January, when asked about foreign affairs, 17% of Americans said it was an extremely important issue for the president and Congress to deal with. In the current poll, 52% gave this response, for an increase of 35 percentage points. Military and defense issues and the economy show slightly smaller increases, but both of those issues started out at higher levels of perceived importance than foreign affairs.
Social Security and Medicare is the only domestic issue (other than the economy) to show higher levels of importance now than they did earlier this year. The remaining domestic issues have declined at least 10 percentage points.
ISSUE SALIENCE SUMMARY TABLE
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
Prior Survey |
Extremely important, prior |
Extremely |
Change |
|
% |
% |
PCT PTS |
||
|
Foreign affairs |
Jan 10-14 |
17 |
52 |
+35 |
|
Military and defense issues |
Jan 10-14 |
26 |
57 |
+29 |
|
The economy |
Jan 10-14 |
34 |
54 |
+20 |
|
The Social Security and Medicare systems |
Jan 10-14 |
37 |
42 |
+5 |
|
A patient's bill of rights |
Jun 8-10 |
40 |
30 |
-10 |
|
Prescription drugs for older Americans |
Jan 10-14 |
49 |
37 |
-12 |
|
Education |
Jun 8-10 |
61 |
46 |
-15 |
Republicans Seen as Better Party on Terrorism
The poll asked Americans "Overall, in whom do you have more confidence when it comes to dealing with" terrorism and the economy, two of the nation's top priorities. By a significant margin, 56% to 21%, Americans say they have more confidence in the Republicans than the Democrats to deal with terrorism. On the economy, the public is divided -- 45% say they have more confidence in the Republicans and 43% express more confidence in the Democrats.
| In Whom Do You Have Greater Confidence, When It Comes To Dealing With… |
 |
| Oct. 5-6, 2001 |
When asked if the country would be better off if the Republicans or Democrats controlled Congress, 38% say the Republicans and 37% say the Democrats, with 25% expressing no preference. Typically, Americans are divided in their views on this question, but when it was last asked in August of this year, 43% favored the Democrats and 34% favored the Republicans. The narrowing of the gap may be due to the increased focus on terrorism and the Republicans' perceptual advantage on this issue.
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 819 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Oct. 5-6, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 4 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Next, how important is it to you that the president and Congress deal with each of the following issues in the next year -- is it -- extremely important, very important, moderately important, or not that important? How about -- [ROTATED]?
A. The economy
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
54% |
36 |
10 |
* |
* |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
34% |
51 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
B. Education
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
46% |
37 |
14 |
3 |
* |
|
2001 Jun 8-10 |
61% |
32 |
6 |
1 |
* |
C. Foreign affairs
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
52% |
34 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
17% |
40 |
33 |
7 |
3 |
D. Military and defense issues
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
57% |
31 |
11 |
1 |
* |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
26% |
42 |
26 |
4 |
2 |
E. Prescription drugs for older Americans
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
37% |
32 |
26 |
5 |
* |
|
2001 Jun 8-10 |
49% |
36 |
12 |
3 |
* |
F. The Social Security and Medicare systems
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
42% |
37 |
18 |
3 |
* |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
37% |
47 |
13 |
2 |
1 |
G. Terrorism
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
70% |
25 |
4 |
1 |
* |
H. A patient's bill of rights
|
Extremely important |
Very important |
Moderately important |
Not that important |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
30% |
32 |
30 |
6 |
2 |
|
2001 Jun 8-10 |
40% |
37 |
16 |
5 |
2 |
Do you think the country would be better off if the Republicans controlled Congress, or if the Democrats controlled Congress?
|
|
|
NEITHER (vol.) |
SAME |
No |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
|
(NA) 2001 Oct 5-6 |
38 |
37 |
11 |
7 |
7 |
|
(NA) 2001 Aug 3-5 |
34 |
43 |
10 |
6 |
7 |
|
(NA) 2001 Apr 20-22 |
41 |
43 |
6 |
3 |
7 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jan 5-7 |
39 |
41 |
7 |
5 |
8 |
|
(NA) 1999 Jul 16-18 |
37 |
42 |
12 |
2 |
7 |
|
(NA) 1999 Jun 25-27 |
41 |
41 |
11 |
2 |
5 |
|
(NA) 1999 May 23-24 |
36 |
37 |
14 |
4 |
9 |
|
(NA) 1998 Dec 15-16 |
30 |
41 |
13 |
5 |
11 |
|
(NA) 1998 Sep 23-24 |
35 |
41 |
11 |
3 |
10 |
|
(NA) 1997 Aug 22-25 |
37 |
40 |
11 |
4 |
8 |
|
(NA) 1997 Jul 25-27 |
37 |
39 |
11 |
5 |
8 |
|
(NA) 1997 Jun 26-29 |
34 |
40 |
12 |
4 |
10 |
|
(LV) 1996 Oct 26-29 |
39 |
42 |
7 |
2 |
10 |
|
(NA) 1995 Dec 15-18 |
41 |
41 |
8 |
2 |
8 |
|
(NA) 1995 Mar 27-29 |
45 |
33 |
10 |
4 |
8 |
|
(NA) 1994 Oct 18-19 |
42 |
39 |
10 |
2 |
7 |
Turning to something else,
Overall, in whom do you have more confidence when it comes to dealing with the economy -- [ROTATED: the Republicans (or) the Democrats]?
|
|
|
BOTH |
NEITHER |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
45% |
43 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
Overall, in whom do you have more confidence when it comes to dealing with terrorism -- [ROTATED: the Republicans (or) the Democrats]?
|
|
|
BOTH |
NEITHER |
No |
|
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
56% |
21 |
8 |
7 |
8 |
* -- Less than 0.5%
vol. – Volunteered response
