In August 2025, nine percent of survey respondents said that the most important problem facing the United States was the high cost of living and inflation. Another 24 percent said that the government and poor leadership was the most serious concern for the nation.

In this 2018 survey, eight percent of respondents stated they think the biggest problem for the United States today is Donald Trump. In fact, most of the important problems mentioned are somehow related to the current POTUS – the most mentioned one being immigration and racism.

A country divided

Since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, political camps in the United States are deeply divided and global politics is in turmoil; Trump’s job approval ratings are notoriously low, and in fact, they are lower than Reagan’s or Nixon’s averages ever were. Trump’s leadership is controversial at best and his executive orders often cause protests, especially among Democrats and liberals – like the travel ban for Muslims.

On the other side

One of Trump’s main campaign promises was a wall on the border with Mexico in order to keep potential illegal immigrants out and enhance security for American citizens. When he did not get the majority for this plan, he declared a national emergency to force the budget to be allocated, even though the majority of Americans did not support this idea, and it is unclear if the situation at the Mexican border actually warrants it. In fact, the total number of unauthorized immigrants has decreased over the last few years and today, many Americans believe that their country benefits from immigrants and their work .

According to the data from 2025, some 16 percent of respondents said that rising health care costs were the most important health issue facing the United States. Cancer ranked second on the list with 15 percent. Issues with healthcare costsCurrently, the most urgent problem facing American healthcare is the high costs of care. The high expense of healthcare may deter people from getting the appropriate treatment when they need medical care or cause them to completely forego preventative care visits. Many Americans reported that they may skip prescription doses or refrain from taking medication as prescribed due to financial concerns. Such health-related behavior can result in major health problems, which may raise the long-term cost of care. Inflation, medical debt, and unforeseen medical expenses have all added to the burden that health costs are placing on household income. Gun violence issueThe gun violence epidemic has plagued the United States over the past few years, yet very little has been done to address the issue. In recent years, gun violence has become the leading cause of death among American children and teens. Even though more than half of Americans are in favor of tougher gun control regulations, there is little political will to strongly reform the current gun law. Gun violence has a deep traumatic impact on survivors and society, it is developing into a major public health crisis in the United States.

A 2024 survey found that over half of U.S. individuals indicated the cost of accessing treatment was the biggest problem facing the national healthcare system. This is much higher than the global average of 32 percent and is in line with the high cost of health care in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries. Bureaucracy along with a lack of staff were also considered to be pressing issues. This statistic reveals the share of individuals who said select problems were the biggest facing the health care system in the United States in 2024.

A survey conducted in July 2025 found that the most important issue for ***percent of Americans was inflation and prices. A further ***percent of respondents were most concerned about jobs and the economy.

In a survey conducted in 2022, 64 percent of the opinion leaders and prominent journalists surveyed in Latin America said that job creation and economic growth was the most important problem Latin America would face in the incoming 18 months. The second main issue according to these experts was inflation and economic instability.

This statistic shows the leading economic problems in black communities in the United States in 2018, by the severity of the problem. During the survey, ** percent of respondents reported that low wages that are not enough to sustain a family are a major problem in black communities.

This statistic depicts the leading issues pertaining to warehouse and/or distribution center operations in the United States between 2016 and 2021. During the 2021 survey, ** percent of respondents cited insufficient space for inventory and/or operations as a major issue.

This statistic shows the views of Jewish community members in the United States with respect to what they view as being potential problems for Israel. ** percent of respondents felt that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict posed a major problem. ** percent felt that Iran's nuclear program also posed a major problem for Israel.

During a survey on small businesses in the U.S. in August 2024, about 21 percent of the respondents stated that the most important problem for small businesses was quality of labor. Additionally, around 24 percent of survey participants said that inflation was the most important problem for their business, a slight increase from August 2023, when inflation was the biggest concern for 23 percent of businesses.

According to a survey in *************, ** percent of respondents in the United States said that they think Joe Biden would do a better job of handling race relations compared to Donald Trump. On the other hand, ** percent of respondents said that they think Trump would do a better job of handling the economy compared to Biden.

A survey conducted in the United States in May 2021 asked Twitter users their opinions on what the major problems of the platform were. Overall, 61 percent of Republican or Republican leaning respondents said that Twitter banning users from the platform was a significant problem, whereas just six percent of Democrats or Democrat leaning respondents felt the same. Additionally, 59 percent of Republican users disliked the action of Twitter limiting the visibility of certain posts and 54 percent of Democrats said that inaccurate or misleading information was the most pressing issue.

As of June 2025, some 15 percent of Americans surveyed were of the opinion that opioids and fentanyl addiction is the number one public health threat in the U.S., a slight increase from 12 percent in February 2025. Furthermore, obesity was viewed as a top public health issue by 22 percent of Americans in June 2025.
U.S. healthcare issues The United States has the highest healthcare spending globally. The majority of Americans considered rising healthcare costs as the most important healthcare problem facing the U.S. in January 2023. While COVID-19 and cancer were ranked second on the list. Due to unfortunate mass shooting incidents in the country, gun violence is typically related to homicide and is not considered a healthcare issue. Although the most popular method of suicide among Americans who attempted it was a gun or firearm, the link between gun access and suicide is frequently ignored as a public health crisis.

Financial stress was a top concern of digital nomads in the United States, according to a survey conducted in June 2024. It was estimated that there were around **** million digital nomads in the North American country at that time.

During a September 2024 survey carried out among digital media buyers from brands, agencies, and adtech from the United States, ** percent named advertising fraud as one of the top four digital media challenges their organization would face in the upcoming 12 months; ** percent of interviewees said that advertising adjacent to deep fakes would be one of the leading challenges.

In 2024, ** percent of healthcare organizations in the United States surveyed reported risk concerns and considerations to be the greatest challenge for their organization in pursuing generative AI. Furthermore, approximately ** percent of respondents believed that lack of capabilities in their organization was a large challenge for implementing generative AI technologies.

Subcontractor delays were the number one challenge for ********* of respondents, according to a 2023 survey among home builders in the United States. Client selections decisions emerged as the second-biggest issue, according to almost ** percent of the respondents.

During a September 2024 survey among digital media experts using programmatic advertising in the United States, nearly * out of 10 (or ** percent) of respondents reported foreseeing serious challenges for social media in the following 12 months. Digital video followed, mentioned by ** percent of interviewees.

According to a survey among member companies of the US-China Business Council in June and July 2024, around ** percent of respondents stated that geopolitics was the most concerning issue when looking ahead to the years to come. Meanwhile, around ** percent of respondents were concerned about the policy and regulatory environment.

In a survey conducted between 2022 and 2023, stark divisions between Democrats and Republicans emerged on a number political issues. One of the most pronounced disparities was in regards to government responsibility for ensuring universal healthcare access, with less than one-third of Republicans in favor compared to 85 percent of Democrats. Furthermore, environmental protection emerged as another polarizing topic, with just 26 percent of Republicans prioritizing it over energy development, in contrast to the 81 percent of Democrats who regarded it as a top priority.