Pew poll: What do we believe and how divided are we?
A recent Pew poll (conducted between September 24 and October 7) gave insights into the issues that are most important to Americans. Interestingly, more than half of the issues with highest public support could be characterized as “Democratic” or “progressive” issues:
Affordability of healthcare (70% consider this issue “very important”)
Ethics in government (67%)
Affordability of college education (63%)
Gap between rich and poor (54%)
Gun violence (53%)
Wages and cost of living (52%)
The way the political system operates (55)%
The other three issues with a high level of support could be described as non-partisan, with nearly identical support among members of the two parties.
Drug addiction (68% overall, 68 Dem-66 Rep)
Federal budget deficit (55% overall, 56 Dem-53 Rep)
Violent crime (51% overall, 52 Dem-49 Rep).
Traditional “culture war” issues such as “gun rights,” “Christian rights,” gay marriage, and “abortion restrictions” were not identified as highly important by a majority of Americans. Nor was the issue of “illegal immigration,” which the President has recently used as his favorite wedge issue. Political commentators have frequently noted the irony of repeated GOP electoral success while advocating issues that are not popular with the public.
But the poll confirms that we are still highly divided on many issues. The list of issues with a vast disparity of partisan views includes.
72% of Democrats think “gap between rich and poor” is very important, but only 29% of Republicans do
The partisan gap on “gun violence” is 72-29
Wages and the cost of living (66-35)
Racism (62-24)
The way racial and ethnic minorities are treated in the criminal justice system (67-15)
Climate change (62-19)
Sexism (48-17)
Pew noted that, since 2016, there have been large increases in the number of Democrats who think both racism and sexism are big problems, but almost no change in Republican views on these issues. By comparison, both Republicans and Democrats agree on the growing importance of drug abuse.
Leon Reed is a retired Congressional aide and defense consultant. He is a member of the Government Accountability Task Force of the Gettysburg Democracy for America.