A new Gallup poll shows:
The “economy in general” ranks No. 1 on Gallup’s Most Important Problem list in October, with 37% of Americans saying it is the top issue facing the country. This is up from 29% in September and exceeds unemployment, in second place at 26%. Mentions of unemployment are down this month from 32% in September, likely reflecting the recent decline in the government’s jobless rate to 7.8%.
Health care and the federal budget lag well behind, a sign that Americans are willing to let seemingly future problems to remain in the future, no matter how essential these issues are to the long-term health of U.S. financials.
Gallup researchers conclude:
The continued dominance of the economy as uppermost on Americans’ minds contrasts sharply with 2004 and 2000, when non-economic issues — the war in Iraq, healthcare, terrorism, education, and dissatisfaction with government, among others — were most prominent.
Troops are on their way home, there have been no attacks on U.S. soil and education problems can be left to those who are still being educated — more signs that Americans cannot look beyond the next few months, or even weeks.
Methodology: Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 15 to 16, 2012, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 1,004 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia
Douglas A. McIntyre
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