Issue Priorities

Trends in public opinion are in line with Obama’s agenda: The priority given to deficit reduction has slipped somewhat, while public support for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure has increased.

While the $467.5 billion deficit projection for fiscal 2015 is the lowest since 2007, the nonpartisan agency predicts higher deficits in the years to come. Meanwhile, the public’s concerns about reducing the deficit have varied over the past two decades, according to the Pew Research Center’s annual policy priorities surveys.

As President Obama delivers the State of the Union address Jan. 20, here's a primer of U.S. public opinion on top issues, the state of the nation and the country's political leaders.

President Obama and the GOP-controlled Congress have sharp differences on environmental and energy issues. Here's a look at where public opinion stands.

Survey Report As views of the economy improve and terrorist threats persist, the public’s policy priorities have changed: For the first time in five years, as many Americans cite defending the U.S. against terrorism (76%) as a top policy priority  as say that about strengthening the nation’s economy (75%). Since Barack Obama began his second […]

While President Obama's stock with the public has taken a beating, the environment is one area where he maintains an advantage over the GOP.

Democrats maintain a wide, but diminished, advantage among Hispanic registered voters, 54% of whom say a candidate's position on immigration is not a deal-breaker in determining their vote.

Publics across the globe see the threat of religious and ethnic violence as a growing threat to the world’s future, with concern especially strong in the Middle East.

Millennials are the most liberal age group and are more likely to lean towards the Democrats. But in addition to that, Millennials who identify with the GOP are also less conservative than Republicans in other generations.