Most Important Problem

Line graph: % of Americans mentioning economic issues as most important U.S. problem. High of 86% in Feb 2009; currently 17% (Aug 2018).

What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?

	2018 Aug	2018 Jul	2018 Jun	2018 May	2018 Apr	2018 Mar	2018 Feb
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)	17	14	15	20	20	14	20
Economy in general	5	4	4	5	5	4	6
Unemployment/Jobs	4	2	3	3	4	2	4
Gap between rich and poor	2	1	2	2	2	1	1
Taxes	2	1	1	1	1	1	2
Federal budget deficit/Federal debt	1	2	1	3	3	2	3
Corporate corruption	1	*	*	1	1	2	1
Wage issues	1	1	1	1	1	*	1
Foreign trade/Trade deficit	1	1	1	1	2	1	--
Lack of money	1	*	*	2	*	1	1
High cost of living/Inflation	1	*	*	1	1	*	1
Fuel/Oil prices	--	1	1	*	--	*	*
NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)	80	81	81	77	76	83	77
Dissatisfaction with government/Poor leadership	21	19	19	20	23	22	22
Immigration/Illegal aliens	16	22	14	10	11	9	15
Race relations/Racism	7	7	7	7	7	7	8
Unifying the country	6	6	4	5	5	5	6
Lack of respect for each other	5	6	4	5	2	3	3
Healthcare	5	3	4	4	4	4	7
Ethics/moral/religious/family decline	4	3	4	5	3	4	4
Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness	3	2	3	1	1	2	3
Education	2	2	2	3	3	3	3
Guns/Gun control	2	2	4	3	6	13	*
International issues, problems	2	1	2	3	3	2	1
Environment/Pollution	2	2	2	2	1	3	3
The media	2	1	2	1	1	1	1
Crime/Violence	2	1	2	2	2	3	2
Drugs	2	1	1	2	1	1	1
Judicial system/Courts/Laws	1	2	1	2	1	2	1
Elections/Election reform	1	1	1	1	1	*	*
Situation with North Korea	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
National security	1	1	2	2	4	3	2
Wars/War (nonspecific)/Fear of war	1	1	1	2	1	2	1
Terrorism	1	1	1	1	*	1	1
Situation with Russia	1	*	*	*	1	1	1
Abortion	1	1	*	*	1	*	1
Welfare	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Children's behavior/Way they are raised	*	1	1	*	1	1	*
School shootings	*	1	1	1	2	*	--
Foreign policy/Foreign aid/Focus overseas	*	1	*	1	--	1	*
Care for the elderly/Medicare	*	*	1	*	*	*	1
Natural disaster response	*	--	--	--	--	--	--
Energy/Lack of energy sources	*	--	--	*	*	*	*
Advancement of Computers/Technology	*	*	*	*	*	*	--
Social Security	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Lack of military defense	*	--	*	1	*	1	1
War/conflict between Middle East nations	*	*	*	*	*	*	--
Situation in Iraq/ISIS	--	--	*	1	*	*	*
Situation in Syria	--	--	--	1	--	--	--
Other non-economic	5	7	5	7	8	8	6
No opinion	4	3	5	3	5	4	4
Total	121%	116%	112%	121%	122%	126%	122%
* Less than 0.5%; Percentages total more than 100% due to multiple mentions.
Gallup

Which political party do you think can do a better job of handling the problem you think is most important -- the Republican Party or the Democratic Party?

Based on those who name a most important problem

	Republican Party	Democratic Party	Same/Other/No opinion
	%	%	%
2017 Sep 6-10	34	41	25
2016 Sep 7-11	42	38	20
2015 Sep 9-13	42	37	23
2014 Sep 4-7	40	36	25
2014 Jul 7-10	35	35	29
2013 Sep 5-8	34	39	27
2012 Sep 6-9	39	49	13
2011 Sep 8-11	44	37	19
2010 Sep 13-16	40	38	22
2009 Aug 31-Sep 2	34	45	20
2008 Sep 8-11	39	46	14
2007 Sep 14-16	30	47	22
2006 Sep 7-10	34	49	16
2005 Sep 12-15	39	40	21
2005 Jan 3-5	41	41	18
2004 Sep 13-15	46	43	11
2004 Jan 12-15	39	46	15
2002 Jul 26-28	38	36	26
2001 Jan 10-14	39	39	22
1999 Jan 15-17	33	43	24
1998 Apr 17-19	40	42	18
1997 Jan 10-13	33	43	24
1996 Jul 25-28	37	41	22
1996 May 9-12	40	44	16
1995 Jan 16-18	42	32	26
1994 Oct 22-25	41	37	22
1994 Aug 15-16	38	37	25
1994 Aug 8-9	39	37	24
1994 Jul 15-17	39	32	29
1994 Jan	31	39	30
1993 Sep 10-12	31	37	32
1993 Jan 8-11	29	45	26
1992 Mar 26-29	34	40	26
1991 Jul 11-14	36	28	36
1991 Mar 7-10	40	27	33
1990 Oct	30	29	41
1988 Sep	38	33	29
1988 May 9-11	27	40	33
1987 Apr 10-13	29	37	34
1986 Jan 10-13	33	28	39
1985 Jan 25-28	39	29	32
1984 Aug 10-13	39	37	24
1984 Feb 10-13	30	32	38
1983 Nov 18-21	28	35	37
1982 Aug 13-16	26	35	39
1981 Jan 8-11	39	20	41
1980 Mar 28-31	28	32	40
1979 Oct 12-15	25	33	42
1976 Apr 23-26	18	39	43
1975 Oct 17-20	15	42	43
1972 Aug	28	34	38
1968 May	30	28	42
1964 Apr 24-29	16	40	44
1960 Feb 4-9	24	32	44
1956 Sep 20-25	55	45	--
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