For Majority of Voters, National Issues Paramount in 2010 Vote

PRINCETON, NJ -- By 55% to 39%, more registered voters say a candidate's stand on national issues -- rather than his or her ability to help people at the district level -- is what matters more to them in voting for Congress. The percentage naming issues as the more important factor is the highest recorded on this measure in the nearly two-decade-long Gallup trend, although similar to that seen at points in the last two midterm election years.

Politics Are More Local for Democrats Than for Republicans

Republicans are considerably more likely than Democrats to emphasize national issues in their assessments of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. Whereas a solid majority of Republican registered voters, 63%, say a candidate's positions on national issues are paramount to them, Democratic voters are evenly split at 46% in their emphasis on issues vs. district performance.

Notably, the majority of political independents share Republicans' greater concern for national issues.

Gallup trends document an increase in the percentage citing national issues among all three party groups since 1994, but the increase has been particularly steep among Republicans and independents.

Additionally, even along ideological lines, the right side of the political spectrum puts more emphasis on national issues in voting for Congress than does the left. According to the May 24-25, 2010, USA Today/Gallup survey, the percentage of conservatives citing issues is 10 points higher than that of liberals, 61% vs. 51%.

Bottom Line

The maxim that "all politics is local" -- most famously advanced by the late House Speaker Tip O'Neill -- may have once been an accurate characterization of the relationship that congressional candidates had with their constituents. In that vein, as recently as 1994, significantly more registered voters said that delivering for their district was more important to the way they viewed congressional candidates than were national issue stances. However, since 1994 -- perhaps because of the nationalization of that election with the Republicans' Contract With America -- Americans' voting priorities have flipped.

In a year when voters rank the federal budget deficit as high as terrorism as a top concern, the implications are clear. Twenty years ago, candidates for Congress might have ingratiated themselves with voters by bulleting all of the federal spending projects they either had delivered to the district, or would support if elected. Today, such messages may be more likely to spark constituents' concerns about the effect the spending involved could have on the national debt.