The 16 Most Important Issues to Americans, Ranked

With each passing year, the effects of climate change become increasingly plain. According to NASA, June 2023 was the hottest June on record for the planet, and early data from the World Meteorological Organization suggests July 2023 will be the hottest month on record.

Still, climate change is one of the most polarizing issues in American politics today. While 39% of surveyed voters see it as a very big problem, only 14% of Republican or Republican leaning voters do. Meanwhile, 64% of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents see it as a very big problem.

More so than most issues, general concerns over the quality of public K-12 schools are widely shared by members of both major parties, and 47% of all American adults. The specifics over public school policy are what divide Democrats and Republicans – and that divide is growing rapidly.

For example, one Pew survey found that the share of likely Republican voters with confidence in public school principals fell from 79% just before the pandemic to 52% in December 2021. Meanwhile, confidence among Democrats fell from 87% to 76%.

The flow of illegal immigrants over the U.S. border with Mexico has been a central Republican talking point for years and has become something of a political liability for the Biden Administration. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of illegal border crossings in the Southwest surged by over 400% – from 458,000 to 2.4 million.

Still, the issue is far more important for Republican voters, as 70% of them see it as a very big problem, compared to 47% of all voters, and only 25% of Democratic voters.

Over half of all American adults see the current state of moral values in the country as a very big problem. Republicans are far more likely to take issue with contemporary morality, as it is one of only four issues included in the survey that more than two-thirds of Republican and Republican leaning independents see as a major problem. Meanwhile, most of the 16 issues in the survey are seen as major problems to Democrats and Democratic leaning voters.

In the last 22 years, the national debt has expanded by 445%, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ongoing War on Terror, and the COVID-19 pandemic sent government spending soaring. At the same time, tax cuts and three economic recessions have reduced tax revenue, forcing the government to pay its bills with borrowed money.

Deficit spending, which contributes to the national debt year after year, is a very big problem for 56% of American voters. Among Republicans, it is the second most important issue, with 72% of surveyed Republicans and Republican leaning independents identifying it as a very big problem.