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.
What do you think is the most important problem facing this
country today?
Jul
6-9, 2006
%
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)
27
Fuel/Oil
Prices
9
Economy in
general
8
Unemployment/jobs
4
Federal
budget deficit/federal debt
2
High cost
of living/inflation
1
Taxes
1
Gap between
rich and poor
1
Lack of
money
1
Wage issues
1
Corporate
corruption
*
Foreign
trade/trade deficit
--
Recession
--
NON-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)
78
Situation
in Iraq/war
25
Immigration/illegal aliens
10
Poor
healthcare/hospitals; high cost of healthcare
9
Dissatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians/
candidates; Poor leadership; corruption
9
Terrorism
7
Poverty/hunger/homelessness
4
Ethics/moral/religious/family decline; dishonesty; lack of
integrity
Percentages add to more than
100% due to multiple responses.
* Less than 0.5%
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.
