Inflation and health care affordability topped the public’s list of biggest issues facing the country, with 62% of Americans saying inflation is a very big problem and 60% saying the same about health care costs.
Narrower majorities say partisan cooperation (57%), drug addiction (55%) and gun violence (53%) are very big problems in the country today.
And about half say the state of violent crime (51%), the federal budget deficit (49%), the state of moral values (48%), and the quality of public K-12 schools (46%) are very high. states that it is a problem.
Illegal immigration, climate change, and racism each rank low on the list of what people say are the country’s major problems, but the majority of people agree with these and several other issues included in the survey. You rate the problem as at least a moderate problem.
A shift in perspective on the country’s biggest issues
The 2023 and 2022 Pew Research Center surveys ranked inflation as the nation’s top problem, but its importance is perceived to be lower than it was in 2022. 62% of Americans now say inflation is a very big problem, down from 70% in 2022.
Partisan differences on inflation
- 80% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say inflation is a very big problem. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, far fewer, 46%, say the same.
- The share of Republicans who think inflation is a big problem has increased slightly over the past year (from 77% to 80%). By contrast, the share of Democrats who think inflation is a very big problem for the country has fallen by 6 percentage points over this period.
federal budget deficit
A majority of Americans (53%) say the federal budget deficit is a very big problem. This has changed little in recent years.
Since Joe Biden took office as president in 2021, Republicans have consistently been about twice as likely as Democrats to say the federal budget deficit is a very big problem for the country. Roughly seven-in-ten Republicans (71%) say so, compared with 35% of Democrats. There was no partisan divide on these views during the Trump administration.
unemployment
Just a quarter of Americans say unemployment is a very big problem, including similar proportions of Republicans (27%) and Democrats (22%). The share that considers unemployment a very big problem has remained largely unchanged since 2022.
Illegal immigration
The percentage of Americans who think illegal immigration is a very big problem has increased slightly over the past year, from 47% to 51%.
Nearly eight in ten Republicans (78%) say illegal immigration is a very big problem, up from 70% a year ago. In contrast, just 27% of Democrats say the same, roughly unchanged from the 25% of Democrats who said illegal immigration is a very big problem a year ago.
Crime and Gun Violence
Americans are less likely to see both gun violence and violent crime as a big problem than they were a year ago, and the percentages of Republicans and Democrats who see these as very big problems, respectively, have declined somewhat over the period.
Democrats are still much more likely than Republicans to view gun violence as a very big problem (68% of Democrats think so, compared to 27% of Republicans). And gun violence ranks as one of the top national issues for Democrats (in 2023 as well).
Republicans also remain more likely than Democrats to see violent crime as a very big problem for the country (56% vs. 39%).
Climate Change
Nearly one-third of Americans (36%) say climate change is a very big problem, down 11 points from 2021.
Democrats are less likely to say this than in 2021, when 71% of Democrats said climate change is a very big problem. Republican views on the importance of climate change have fallen 7 points since 2021.
Racism
Overall, 29% of Americans say racism is a very big problem, a significant drop from 45% who said so in 2021. Among Democrats, the drop is especially steep: 42% of Democrats now say racism is a very big problem in the country today, down from 67% in 2021.
(See the report’s summary for Republican and Democratic views on all issues asked in the survey.)
