GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans continue to say the war in Iraq is the most important problem facing the United States, according to a recent Gallup poll. Other problems at the top of the list are immigration, fuel prices, healthcare, and dissatisfaction with government. The percentage of Americans mentioning immigration as the nation's top problem has declined significantly since June. One in three Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the country today; although higher than satisfaction levels in the past several months, this level of satisfaction is still lower than it was at the beginning of the year.
Most Important Problem
The poll, conducted July 6-9, included Gallup's monthly update of the long-standing trend question that asks Americans to identify "the most important problem facing this country today."
The latest results show that 25% of Americans say the war in Iraq is the top problem facing the country right now, followed by immigration (10%), fuel and oil prices (9%), healthcare issues (9%), government dissatisfaction (9%), the general state of the economy (8%), and terrorism (7%).
Only 2% of Americans mention the situation in North Korea as the nation's top problem. Although this marks a slight change from previous polls this year in which virtually no one named North Korea as the top problem, the low level of mentions of North Korea is evidence that the situation there has not reached "crisis" proportions in the minds of the average American.
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What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today? |
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Jul 6-9, 2006 |
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% |
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ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
27 |
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Fuel/Oil Prices |
9 |
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Economy in general |
8 |
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Unemployment/jobs |
4 |
|
Federal budget deficit/federal debt |
2 |
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High cost of living/inflation |
1 |
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Taxes |
1 |
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Gap between rich and poor |
1 |
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Lack of money |
1 |
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Wage issues |
1 |
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Corporate corruption |
* |
|
Foreign trade/trade deficit |
-- |
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Recession |
-- |
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|
|
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NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET) |
78 |
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Situation in Iraq/war |
25 |
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Immigration/illegal aliens |
10 |
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Poor healthcare/hospitals; high cost of healthcare |
9 |
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Dissatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians/ candidates; Poor leadership; corruption |
9 |
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Terrorism |
7 |
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Poverty/hunger/homelessness |
4 |
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Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; lack of integrity |
3 |
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Education/poor education/access to education |
3 |
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Lack of energy sources; the energy crisis |
2 |
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National security |
2 |
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Foreign aid/focus overseas |
2 |
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Environment/pollution |
2 |
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Situation in North Korea |
2 |
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Crime/violence |
2 |
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International issues/problems |
2 |
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Homosexuality/gay rights issues |
1 |
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Unifying the country |
1 |
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Social Security |
1 |
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Judicial system/courts/laws |
1 |
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Lack of respect for each other |
1 |
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Medicare |
1 |
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Abortion |
1 |
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Children's behavior/way they are raised |
1 |
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Care for the elderly |
1 |
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Drugs |
* |
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The media |
* |
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Lack of military defense |
* |
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Race relations/racism |
* |
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Welfare |
* |
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Abuse of power |
* |
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Natural disaster relief effort and funding |
* |
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Overpopulation |
* |
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Election year/presidential choices/election reform |
* |
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Child abuse |
-- |
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Guns/gun control |
-- |
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Other non-economic |
3 |
|
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No opinion |
3 |
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Percentages add to more than 100% due to multiple responses. |
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* Less than 0.5% |
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A drop occurred during the last month in Americans' views that immigration is the most important problem facing the country. Currently, 10% of Americans say immigration is the top problem. This is down from 18% last month, and is the lowest it has been since the issue came to the forefront of the news earlier this spring. At the start of the year, fewer than 1 in 10 Americans mentioned immigration, but the issue escalated in responses to this "most important problem" question in the late spring after the heavy media coverage of the debate in Congress over the issue (at its highpoint this year, 19% in an April survey mentioned immigration). Immigration now appears to be simmering down as a public concern.
The latest poll finds little change in Americans' perceptions that the situation in Iraq is the most important problem facing the country. At the beginning of the year, roughly 20% of Americans said Iraq was the most important problem. Since April, at least 25% of Americans have named the situation in Iraq as the most important problem facing the nation.
Mood of the Nation
The latest poll also finds that 32% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country right now, while the majority of Americans, 65%, say they are dissatisfied. The public's overall level of satisfaction has gradually improved since reaching its low point of the year in May, but has still not recovered to where it was at the start of 2006.
At the beginning of the year, 36% of Americans expressed satisfaction with the state of the nation. Satisfaction remained at this level in February, before starting to decline -- to 29% in March, then to 27% in April, and finally to 25% in May. The public's satisfaction began to improve in June, climbing five percentage points to 30%. Now, satisfaction is up two more points this month, to 32%.
From a historical perspective, the current 32% satisfaction reading is still quite low. Since 1979, the average percentage of Americans saying they are satisfied is 44%. The high point in satisfaction came in February 1999, when 71% of Americans said they were satisfied. One of the first surveys on this measure, conducted in July 1979, found satisfaction at 12%, the lowest ever measured, although not much below the 14% measured in June 1992.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted July 6-9, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 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.