SURVEY SAYS...

Exclusive polling for Newsweek on key issues highlights where presidential candidates DONALD TRUMP and KAMALA HARRIS need to win votes to succeed to the White House

- ALISS HIGHAM

A BORTION HAS OVERtaken immigration to become the second most important issue, behind the economy, for voters heading into the 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Newsweek polling suggests.

The race to the White House is neck and neck and may ultimately come down to just a few thousand votes in key battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona. So, to understand voters' greatest concerns, over the past 16 months polls conducted exclusively by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek asked participants: "Which issues are most likely to determine how you vote in the November 2024 Presidential Election? You may select up to three." The issues that repeatedly came out on top were the economy, abortion and immigration, making candidates' signaling on these concerns crucial to success come election day.

"In such a highly contested political context, neither candidate can afford to yield ground on any issue whether the economy, reproductive rights, immigration, democracy or the rule of law," Cary Coglianese, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Newsweek.

The top-ranking issue in every survey we conducted was the economy. Beyond that, abortion was the issue that saw the biggest jump, rising 17 percentage points from the first poll in July 2023 (21 percent) to the latest in October 2024 (38 percent). In four of the past five months, it was selected more than immigration. As fighting continues in Gaza and Ukraine, foreign policy and defense has held steady around 14 percent. Altogether, 19 polls were conducted, cumulatively asking 34,800 eligible voters about the key issues of the 2024 election.

Here are five areas of concern that could affect who ends up in the Oval Office.