Americans are divided on the top priorities for next president

Washington, D.C., October 22, 2024 – The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that Americans are split on what should be the top domestic priority of the president, with a plurality wanting immigration to be the top priority for the next administration’s first 100 days. The survey shows that the economy is the main concern for about a quarter of Americans, followed by political extremism and then immigration. Most Americans believe that their life is headed in the right direction. At the same time, most say the economy, immigration, foreign policy, cost of living, and national politics are on the wrong track. In the presidential race, the survey shows the continued close contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, with registered voters feeling that Trump has a better approach on key issues, like the economy and immigration, than Harris.

Detailed Findings

Most registered voters say they are going to vote in this election (79%). If the election were held today, 48% of likely voters say they would vote for Kamala Harris and 45% say they would vote for Donald Trump. Two percent say they would vote for another candidate and 4% say they do not know who they would vote for. When third-party supporters or those who don’t know who they are going to vote for are asked which candidate they would choose if they had to pick, more likely voters lean toward Trump (51%) than Harris (36%).

The economy is the seen as the most important problem for 27% of registered voters, followed by political extremism or threats to democracy (22%), and then immigration (16%). A plurality of registered voters would like the next president to focus on immigration as their top domestic policy in the first 100 days in office (35%). Income inequality (11%), taxes (10%), and healthcare (10%) are statistically tied for the next higher priority. These priorities are very similar to the general population.

Registered voters generally see their own lives as going in the right direction (66%) but have a more pessimistic view about the direction of important issues. Seventy-two percent of registered voters say national politics are on the wrong track. Seventy percent of registered voters say the same about the cost of living. Registered voters have a pessimistic view of immigration policy (65% - wrong track), the national economy (60% - wrong track), and American foreign policy (56% - wrong track).

When looking at the candidates’ approach to certain issues, among registered voters Kamala Harris is seen as better on political extremism (42%) than Donald Trump (35%), abortion (49% - Harris, 33% - Trump), healthcare policy (44% - Harris, 34% - Trump) and climate change (44% - Harris, 27% - Trump). Donald Trump outperforms Harris on immigration (48%-Trump, 35%-Harris), the U.S. economy (46%-Trump, 38%-Harris), domestic oil and gas production (46%-Trump, 32%-Harris), inflation (45%-Trump, 36%-Harris), fighting crime (44%-Trump, 37%-Harris), Israel generally (39%-Trump, 29%-Harris), and  the Israel-Hamas War (38%-Trump, 29% - Harris). Registered voters are split on who has a better approach to social order and safety (42%-Harris, 40%- Trump), preventing global conflict (40%-Trump, 38%-Harris), and Ukraine (37% each).

About the Study

This Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted October 16-21, 2024, on behalf of Reuters using the KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a representative sample 4,129 U.S. residents, age 18 or older. This sample includes 3,481 registered voters, 1,235 of whom are Republicans, 1,188 of whom are Democrats, and 884 of whom are independents. This sample also includes 3,307 likely voters.

The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, Census region by metropolitan status, education, household income, and party ID. Party ID benchmarks are from the 2024 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60+)
• Race-Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other/Non-Hispanic and 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) by  Metropolitan Status (Metro, Non-Metro)
• Education (Less than High School, High School graduate or equivalent, Some College, Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher)
• Household Income (under $25K, $25K-$49,999, $50K-$74,999, $75K-$99,999, $100K-$149,999, $150K and over)
• Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.16 for all adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points for registered voters and 1.8 percentage points for likely voters. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Annaleise Azevedo Lohr
Director, U.S.
Public Affairs
[email protected]

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