Importance of Issues - Rasmussen Reports™

Importance of Issues - Rasmussen Reports™: "With a new Congress scheduled to swing into action this week, the number of voters who rate the economy as a Very Important issue has reached its highest level since early August 2008.

A new national telephone survey finds that 87% of Likely U.S. Voters view the economy this way, well above the importance they place on any other issue on a list of 10 regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The new finding is up five points from 82% in late October and has consistently been the issue voters place the highest level of importance on since regular tracking began several years ago.

Republicans will have majority control of the House in the new session of Congress, and voters continue to trust the GOP more than Democrats on the issue of the economy as they have since June of last year.

Voters trust Republicans more on seven of 10 issues, with the two breaking even on the issue of health care which earns the second highest level of concern: 71% of voters describe it as a Very Important issue.

Separate polling finds that voters still strongly support repeal of the national health care law passed by Democrats last March, to update and in mid-December, a majority of voters for the first time since March said they believe the law will be repealed by the new Congress.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on December 29-30, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters now view government ethics and corruption as Very Important. For years, this issue fell just behind the economy, but since July it has taken the number three spot in terms of the level of importance voters attach to it.

Sixty-five percent (65%) regard taxes as Very Important, showing little change since early March 2009.

Voters give nearly as much weight to the issue of Social Security, which is seen as Very Important by 64%. This finding has shown little fluctuation for years now.

Americans are receptive to a proposal by President Obama’s bipartisan deficit reduction commission to increase the level of income taxable for Social Security, but most don’t like the idea of raising the retirement age.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters rate education as a Very Important issue, the lowest finding since early April.

Showing no change from the previous survey, 57% classify immigration as Very Important. Early last May, this issue jumped in terms of voter importance as the debate over Arizona’s immigration law began heating up.

Despite voter pessimism about the war on terror and the war in Afghanistan, just 54% of voters view the issue of national security and the war on terror as Very Important, the lowest level measured in months.

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