A survey conducted in February 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.

According to a survey from late December 2024, the two most important issues among Republican voters in the United States were inflation and immigration, with ** and ** percent ranking it their primary political concerns respectively. In contrast, only *** percent of Democrats considered immigration their most important issue. Inflation and healthcare were the leading issues among democrats in the U.S.

In December 2024, 11 percent of survey respondents said that the most important problem facing the United States was the high cost of living and inflation. Another 20percent said that the government and poor leadership was the most serious concern for the nation.

Inflation was the most worrying topic worldwide as of May 2025, with ********* of the respondents choosing that option. Crime and violence, as well as poverty and social inequality, followed behind. Moreover, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza, *** percent of the respondents were worried about military conflict between nations. Only *** percent were worried about the COVID-19 pandemic, which dominated the world after its outbreak in 2020. Global inflation and rising prices Inflation rates have spiked substantially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. From 2020 to 2021, the worldwide inflation rate increased from 3.5 percent to 4.7 percent, and from 2021 to 2022, the rate increased sharply from 4.7 percent to 8.7 percent. While rates are predicted to fall come 2025, many are continuing to struggle with price increases on basic necessities. Poverty and global development Poverty and social inequality were the third most worrying issues to respondents. While poverty and inequality are still prominent, global poverty rates have been on a steady decline over the years. In 1994, 64 percent of people in low-income countries and around one percent of people in high-income countries lived on less than 2.15 U.S. dollars per day. By 2018, this had fallen to almost 44 percent of people in low-income countries and 0.6 percent in high-income countries. Moreover, fewer people globally are dying of preventable diseases, and people are living longer lives. Despite these aspects, issues such as wealth inequality have global prominence.

The Economy was seen as the most important issue facing Germany as of June 2025, selected by 20 percent of people as a problem that month. Immigration was seen by 18 percent of people in Germany as a major issue, and was the second most-common response in the most recent survey. Germany's economic struggles Once the economic powerhouse of Europe, the Germany economy has been struggling for several years, and even shrank in 2023 and 2024. In part, this is due to external factors, such as the War in Ukraine putting an end to Germany's supply of cheap Russian gas, and a more protectionist global trade environment harming Germany's export-driven businesses. On the other hand, there has been a chronic lack of investment in the country, in part due to fiscal restraints built into the German constitution. Collapse of the traffic light coalition The issue of removing these fiscal restraints, in particular the "debt-brake", was the eventual reason that brought down the government of Olaf Scholz in late 2024. In power since the 2021 election, Scholz's government consisted of three political parties, Scholz's own SPD, the German Greens, and the pro-businesses FDP. The contradictions inherent in a three-party coalition eventually rose to the surface in late 2024, when the FDP leadership split with the government over economic policy, causing the collapse of the government. All three parties saw their vote share decline considerably, in the subsequent election in February 2025, with the FDP unable to clear the five percent threshold required to win seats in parliament.

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 .

In June 2024, ** percent of French survey respondents reported purchasing power as their primary concern. The second issue that was most concerning to the French was immigration.

As of April 2025, the economy was seen as the most important issue facing the UK according to young voters (aged between 18 and 24). Compared with the overall population, housing and the environment are seen as more important issues than immigration, which was the joint-second most important issue for the general population.

The economy was seen by 49 percent of people in the UK as one of the top three issues facing the country in June 2025. The ongoing cost of living crisis afflicting the UK, driven by high inflation, is still one of the main concerns of Britons. Immigration has generally been the second most important issue since the middle of 2024, just ahead of health, which was seen as the third-biggest issue in the most recent month. Labour's popularity continues to sink in 2025 Despite winning the 2024 general election with a strong majority, the new Labour government has had its share of struggles since coming to power. Shortly after taking office, the approval rating for Labour stood at -2 percent, but this fell throughout the second half of 2024, and by January 2025 had sunk to a new low of -47 percent. Although this was still higher than the previous government's last approval rating of -56 percent, it is nevertheless a severe review from the electorate. Among several decisions from the government, arguably the least popular was the government withdrawing winter fuel payments. This state benefit, previously paid to all pensioners, is now only paid to those on low incomes, with millions of pensioners not receiving this payment in winter 2024. Sunak's pledges fail to prevent defeat in 2024 With an election on the horizon, and the Labour Party consistently ahead in the polls, addressing voter concerns directly was one of the best chances the Conservatives had of staying in power in 2023. At the start of that year, Rishi Sunak attempted to do this by setting out his five pledges for the next twelve months; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. A year later, Sunak had at best only partial success in these aims. Although the inflation rate fell, economic growth was weak and even declined in the last two quarters of 2023, although it did return to growth in early 2024. National debt was only expected to fall in the mid to late 2020s, while the trend of increasing NHS waiting times did not reverse. Small boat crossings were down from 2022, but still higher than in 2021 or 2020. .

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.

This statistic shows the result of a survey on Swedes most important political issues in the election in 2018. That year, the largest share, or 33 percent of respondents, named integration or immigration as a very important political topic. 28 percent stated that health care was highly important. The Swedish general election is taking place on September 9, 2018.

Housing was seen as the most important issue facing the Republic of Ireland as of 2025, with 64 percent of respondents placing it as one of the top two issues facing the country. Housing was followed by rising prices and inflation as the second most important issue, selected as a top issue by 35 percent of Irish respondents.

As of January 2025, approximately 24 percent of exhibition companies surveyed in eight Central and South American countries reported viewing the state of the economy in their home market as the industry's most important issue over the following 12 to 18 months. Internal management challenges ranked second, selected by 13 percent of respondents.

According to a 2023 survey, inflation and gas prices were the most important issues for Gen Z and Millennial voters in the United States. Additionally, nearly one-third of voters between 18 and 34 years old considered abortion a top political issue heading into the 2024 election.

As of Spring 2023, the most important issue facing people in the Netherlands was that of the environment and climate change, with over a majority of respondents selecting this option as being in one of the two most important issues. By comparison, relatively few people named the government debt or unemployment. Just one percent of people thought that terrorism was one of the most important issues.

 Concern about global warming   

Climate change is a top concern among all generations in the Netherlands. A 2018 poll in which respondents were asked whether they consider global warming problematic or not, over two thirds of respondents in all age groups stated to consider it (very) problematic. Concern was highest among those older than 55 years (78 percent), but among the participants younger than 35 years 67 percent also stated to consider climate change a problem.

Fear of terrorist attacks  

 Although relatively few people stated to consider terrorism one of the main issues, another 2021 survey found that terrorism is still something that worries a considerable amount of Dutch. Almost 70 percent of survey participants answered to worry a lot about terrorism, whereas only 29 percent did not worry at all about it, or very little.

When asked to choose the single most important issue for the upcoming 2022 congressional midterm elections, economic policy and abortion are the top concerns. The importance of abortion in 2022 has nearly tripled since the midterm elections of 2018. Respondents indicated that healthcare and immigration are also important. Healthcare was the most important issue in 2018 but has since dropped 12 percentage points.

According to a survey carried out in March 2022, a few months before the Colombian presidential elections, 28 percent of respondents stated the economy was the most important issue that they and their family were facing at that period. Corruption came second, with 20 percent of respondents considering this topic the most concerning in this pre-electoral period. When questioned who they would vote for if the elections were tomorrow, Gustavo Petro had the lead with 27 percent of votes.

In the first week of November, 2022, education and the economy were the most important issues in the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections for those aged between 18 and 29. Inflation/prices was the issue most commonly characterized as 'very important', and was particularly popular among those aged 45 and older.

This statistic gives an overview of the issues considered most important in voters making their voting decision in the 2016 election for the President of the United States of America, as of 24 July 2016. 74 percent of voters surveyed considered a candidates position on national security to have a very important influence on their eventual vote. In contrast, 57 percent of voters viewed gun control as very important.

According to exit polls from the 2022 midterm election, voters who saw crime as the most important issue were more likely to vote for Republican candidates in the House of Representatives races. 57 percent of voters who said crime was the most important issue to their vote cast their vote for Republican candidates. Conversely, voters who prioritized abortion were more likely to vote for Democratic candidates. The midterm elections were held on November 8th, 2022.