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 .

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.

In 1957, the United States Congress established the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health to evaluate the nation's resources for coping with both the psychological and economic problems of mental illness. The Commission sponsored a nationwide survey, which was conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, to assess the subjective mental health of "normal" American adults and to determine in detail how they coped with problems of adjustment. During the spring of 1957, a sample of American adults was interviewed on various areas in which problems might arise, including marriage, parenthood, employment, and general social relationships. Information about leisure time, past and present physical and mental health, and motives for affiliation, achievement, and power were also sought. Three questionnaire forms were employed, each addressed to a randomly selected third of the sample.

Graph and download economic data for Corporate Issues, Bonds and Notes, Including Refunding, U.S., Canadian and Foreign (M10028M144NNBR) from Jan 1906 to Dec 1940 about notes, issues, foreign, Canada, bonds, corporate, and USA.

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.

Graph and download economic data for United States Government Securities, Nine to Twelve Month Issues for United States (M13056USM193NNBR) from Jan 1943 to Nov 1970 about issues, 1-year, securities, government, and USA.

This study is part of a quadrennial series designed to investigate the opinions and attitudes of both the general public and a select group of opinion leaders (or elites) on matters relating to foreign policy, and to define the parameters of public opinion within which decision-makers must operate. Both general public and elite respondents were queried regarding the biggest problems facing the United States, the spending levels for various federal government programs, the role of Congress in determining foreign policy, the impact of foreign policy on issues like prices and unemployment, and the Clinton Administration's handling of various problems such as the overall foreign policy, the overall trade policy, immigration, and the relations with Latin America, Japan, Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Questions were also asked about the government's reactions to the ongoing situations in Bosnia, North Korea, Haiti, Cuba, Rwanda, and the Middle East, the importance of various countries to America's vital interests, and possible adversaries or threats to the United States in the near future. Issues like the presence of NATO troops in Western Europe, the military role of Japan and Germany, the economic unification of Western Europe, the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the illegal drugs problem were also explored. In addition, the elites were asked several questions about their political party affiliation and the strength of that affiliation. Demographic data such as religious preference, marital status, employment status, household composition, education, age, Hispanic origin, race, sex, and income were only collected for the general population sample.

This study was a joint project of ten major United States cities participating in the Urban Observatory Program: Atlanta, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, Milwaukee, Nashville, and San Diego. The survey focused on citizens' perceptions of the problems of urban life. Citizens' attitudes toward local government services and their opinions about local problems in the areas of schooling, housing, public transportation, controlled drugs, law and order, and taxes were assessed in all ten cities. Information on the socioeconomic status of the respondents, and on household composition was also elicited. Demographic data include sex, age, marital status, race, ethnicity, birthplace, level of education, and family income. Each city may be analyzed separately or may be treated as an integral part of the comparative study.

This dataset focuses on the black-white wage gap in the United States. It provides insights into the disparities in hourly wages between black and white workers, as well as different gender and subgroup breakdowns.

The data is derived from the Economic Policy Institute’s State of Working America Data Library, a reputable source for socio-economic research and analysis.

According to a survey conducted in 2022, ** percent of Americans believed that homelessness in the United States is a very serious problem. In comparison, ** percent of Democrats, ** percent of Republicans, and ** percent of Independents shared this belief.

Graph and download economic data for Yields on United States Government Securities, Three to Five Year Issues for United States (M13057USM193NNBR) from Jan 1945 to Dec 1965 about issues, yield, securities, 5-year, government, interest rate, interest, rate, and USA.

United States SBOI: sa: Most Pressing Problem: A Year Ago: Others data was reported at 5.000 % in Mar 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.000 % for Feb 2025. United States SBOI: sa: Most Pressing Problem: A Year Ago: Others data is updated monthly, averaging 7.000 % from Jan 2014 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 131 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.000 % in May 2023 and a record low of 3.000 % in Jul 2024. United States SBOI: sa: Most Pressing Problem: A Year Ago: Others data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Federation of Independent Business. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.S042: NFIB Index of Small Business Optimism. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Interactive heatmap showing the most pressing issues facing Latin American countries. Compare top concerns including crime, economy, corruption, and more across the region.

The current political discourse in the United States focuses on extreme political polarization as a contributor to ills ranging from government shutdowns to awkward family holidays. And indeed, a large body of research has documented differences between liberals and conservatives–primarily focused on Republicans and Democrats in the United States. We combine large international surveys and more fine-grained surveys of United States citizens to compare differences in opinion between Republicans and Democrats to the full range of world opinion on moral issues (N = 37,653 in 39 countries) and issues of free speech (N = 40,786 in 38 countries). When viewed in the full distribution, polarization between Democrats and Republicans appears relatively small, even on divisive issues such as abortion, sexual preference, and freedom of religious speech. The average Democrat-Republic overlap is greater than 70% of the country pair overlaps across eight moral issues, meaning that 70% of the country pairs are more dissimilar from each other than Democrats and Republicans are dissimilar; similarly, the average Democrat-Republic overlap is greater than 79% of the country pair overlaps across five freedom of speech issues. These results suggest that cross-cultural comparisons are useful for putting differences between political partisans within the same country in context.

According to a 2023 survey, young adults in the United States were divided when it came to important political issues. However, more than half of Americans between ** and ** considered the cost of living and inflation the most important political issue.

Graph and download economic data for Foreign Bond Issues, Government and Government Guaranteed or Controlled for the United States (Q10067USQ144NNBR) from Q1 1920 to Q4 1930 about issues, foreign, bonds, government, and USA.

Replication Data for: "The Political Implications of American Concerns about Economic Inequality," published in Political Behavior

This report provides methodological information on how to obtain estimates of behavioral health outcomes for populations living on and off tribal lands and provides some initial estimates using NSDUH 2005 to 2014 data.

This catalog record includes detailed variable-level descriptions, enabling data discovery and comparison. The data are not archived at ICPSR. Users should consult the data owners (via the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research) directly for details on obtaining the data. This collection includes variable-level metadata of Poll # 2008-PRIOR1: Health Priorities 1--Americans' Views of the Medical Care System, a survey from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted by ICR-International Communications Research. Topics covered in this survey include: Nation's system to protect against health threats United States health care system National health insurance Respondent's personal medical care Ability to afford medical bills Local institutions Personal information regarding respondent Other codes The data and documentation files for this survey are available through the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [Roper #31092332]. Frequencies and summary statistics for the 131 variables from this survey are available through the ICPSR social science variable database and can be accessed from the Variables tab.

Number of participants by group and data collection round