Election 2024 Poll: The Economy Is Issue Number One

While voters remain sharply divided, their views on big topics show nuance and, in some cases, broad agreement

- DARRAGH ROCHE

THE ECONOMY IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT issue for voters, according to the results of a new Newsweek tracker poll that asked Americans their views on key 2024 election issues.

That's one of the main findings from Newsweek's sentiment tracker carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, a London-based global polling and strategic consulting firm, under a new partnership announced on July 14. The tracker will chart opinions on a range of issues affecting voters' daily lives, including the war in Ukraine, health care, gun control, inflation and public education, among others. The survey was conducted on July 15 and July 16 among 1,500 eligible U.S. voters.

Philip van Scheltinga, director of research at Redfield & Wilton Strategies says, "I would like to draw attention to the nuances of public opinion that we can already see in this first poll.

"For instance, 62 percent of Americans say they are proud, rather than ashamed, of their country's history, and 70 percent believe children in schools should be taught to feel proud of their country," he says.

"At the same time, 57 percent think institutional racism still exists in the United States. These figures indicate a far more complex public opinion landscape than the bipolar one we may be led to believe otherwise exists," van Scheltinga adds.

"Likewise, we see pluralities saying children should be taught about same-sex couples, but a majority saying children should not be taught that it is possible to change one's gender, again indicating the public's tendency not to perceive issues (in this instance, LGBTQ issues) in the unified, box-like fashion that political activists would perhaps like them to."