The Key Issues For U.S. Voters Right Now

Eight in ten U.S. voters would say that the economy is a very important factor when it comes to deciding who to vote for in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a poll by Morning Consult. The issue has remained an important topic for around 80 percent of respondents consistently since the start of the year.

Other topics likely to sway voters when they head to the ballots include education, immigration and gun policy. The latter has seen greater variation in terms of the number of people who consider it highly important through the past year, with the question of guns concerning more respondents through the summer months, and only in the past three months seeing a fall in numbers of people that would rate it as “very important.”

The topic of abortion, on the other hand, has seen an uptick since the start of the year, with the latest survey finding that it is the second most frequently cited concern, with 53 percent of respondents saying it would be “very important” for them when deciding who they want in office. Meanwhile, where nearly two thirds of voters said that policies on the coronavirus would impact their decisions as of January this year, now only one third hold the same opinion.

The relative importance of these topics varies depending on which side of the aisle voters are aligned with. For instance, where 66 percent of Republican voters considered immigration an important issue as of this month, only 38 percent of Democrats thought the same. The topic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, is very important to 47 percent of Democrats versus only 25 percent of Republicans.