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 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.

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]

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.

Unemployment Rate in the United States increased to 4.30 percent in August from 4.20 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

This data collection is the 1990 version of a quadrennial study designed to investigate the opinions and attitudes of the general public and of a select group of opinion leaders (or elites) on matters relating to foreign policy. The primary objectives of this study were to define the parameters of public opinion within which decision makers must operate and to compare the attitudes of the general public with those of opinion leaders. For the purposes of this study, "opinion leaders" are defined as those who are in positions of leadership in government, academia, business and labor, the media, religious institutions, special interest groups, and private foreign policy organizations. Both general public and elite respondents were questioned regarding the biggest problems/foreign policy problems facing the United States today, spending levels for various federal government programs, the role of Congress in determining foreign policy, the impact of foreign policy on things such as prices and unemployment, economic aid to other nations, military aid/selling military equipment to other nations, the role of the United States in world affairs, the Bush administration's handling of various problems, government reactions to situations in Kuwait, Panama, and China, the importance of various countries to America's vital interests, possible threats/adversaries to the United States in coming years, and the use of United States military troops in other parts of the world. Other topics covered include the relative importance of several foreign policy goals, United States relations with the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Vietnam, NATO and keeping troops in western Europe, the military role of Japan and Germany, the economic unification of western Europe, the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, policy options to reduce dependence on foreign oil, the illegal drug problem, free trade, and the respondent's political party affiliation and the strength of that affiliation. In addition, general populace respondents were asked to indicate their level of political activity, how closely they followed news about several current issues and events, and to rate various foreign countries and American and foreign leaders on a feeling thermometer scale. Demographic characteristics such as religious preference, marital status, employment status, household composition, education, age, Hispanic origin, race, sex, and income also were gathered for these respondents.

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 Health Priorities 2--Americans' Views on Public Health, a survey from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted by International Communications Research (ICR). Topics covered in this survey include: National systems to protect against health threats Greatest threats to the public Problems facing families Local communities and problems facing them Suggestions to improve the country's health Respondent's personal and demographic information Other codes The data and documentation files for this survey are available through the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [Roper #31092333]. Frequencies and summary statistics for the 148 variables from this survey are available through the ICPSR social science variable database and can be accessed from the Variables tab.

In 2025, polluted water was the most concerning environmental issue among adults in the United States. ** percent of respondents worried a great deal about pollution in drinking water quality, while ** percent had similar worries about pollution in waterways. Meanwhile, ** percent of American adults worried a great deal about both global warming or climate change and air pollution. The share of Americans who worried about air pollution has fallen since 1990.

United States New Security Issues: SL: Proceeds: Education data was reported at 5.836 USD bn in May 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.349 USD bn for Apr 2018. United States New Security Issues: SL: Proceeds: Education data is updated monthly, averaging 4.632 USD bn from Mar 2003 (Median) to May 2018, with 183 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37.086 USD bn in Nov 2014 and a record low of 1.566 USD bn in Jan 2013. United States New Security Issues: SL: Proceeds: Education data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Reserve Board. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.Z031: New Security Issues: State and Local Governments.

According to a 2024 survey just after the 2024 election, young adults in the United States were divided when it came to important political issues such as border security, gun violence prevention, and addressing climate change. However, the majority of young Americans considered the cost of living and inflation a top political issue, regardless of their race and ethnicity.

United States - of Commercial Paper Issues with a Maturity Between 10 and 20 Days was 383.00000 Number in September of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - of Commercial Paper Issues with a Maturity Between 10 and 20 Days reached a record high of 2334.00000 in January of 2001 and a record low of 0.00000 in December of 2007. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - of Commercial Paper Issues with a Maturity Between 10 and 20 Days - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

United States - Government-Sponsored Enterprises; GSE Issues of Freddie Mac; Liability, Transactions was 80608.00000 Mil. of $ in January of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Government-Sponsored Enterprises; GSE Issues of Freddie Mac; Liability, Transactions reached a record high of 1713000.00000 in October of 2000 and a record low of -299784.00000 in April of 2009. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Government-Sponsored Enterprises; GSE Issues of Freddie Mac; Liability, Transactions - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

United States New Security Issues: SL: Issuer: State data was reported at 6.986 USD bn in Oct 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 5.088 USD bn for Sep 2011. United States New Security Issues: SL: Issuer: State data is updated monthly, averaging 2.805 USD bn from Mar 2003 (Median) to Oct 2011, with 104 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.418 USD bn in Jun 2003 and a record low of 251.000 USD mn in Aug 2011. United States New Security Issues: SL: Issuer: State data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Reserve Board. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.Z031: New Security Issues: State and Local Governments.

United States SB: ME: Challenges (CH): Difficulties Hiring Employees: Yes data was reported at 36.900 % in 11 Apr 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 40.700 % for 04 Apr 2022. United States SB: ME: Challenges (CH): Difficulties Hiring Employees: Yes data is updated weekly, averaging 27.750 % from Nov 2021 (Median) to 11 Apr 2022, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 40.700 % in 04 Apr 2022 and a record low of 22.500 % in 22 Nov 2021. United States SB: ME: Challenges (CH): Difficulties Hiring Employees: Yes data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.S049: Small Business Pulse Survey: by State: Northeast Region: Weekly, Beg Monday (Discontinued).

Reporting of Aggregate Case and Death Count data was discontinued May 11, 2023, with the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. Although these data will continue to be publicly available, this dataset will no longer be updated.

This archived public use dataset has 11 data elements reflecting United States COVID-19 community levels for all available counties.

The COVID-19 community levels were developed using a combination of three metrics — new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. The COVID-19 community level was determined by the higher of the new admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. New COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system. Data on new cases acts as an early warning indicator of potential increases in health system strain in the event of a COVID-19 surge.

Using these data, the COVID-19 community level was classified as low, medium, or high.

COVID-19 Community Levels were used to help communities and individuals make decisions based on their local context and their unique needs. Community vaccination coverage and other local information, like early alerts from surveillance, such as through wastewater or the number of emergency department visits for COVID-19, when available, can also inform decision making for health officials and individuals.

For the most accurate and up-to-date data for any county or state, visit the relevant health department website. COVID Data Tracker may display data that differ from state and local websites. This can be due to differences in how data were collected, how metrics were calculated, or the timing of web updates.

Archived Data Notes:

This dataset was renamed from "United States COVID-19 Community Levels by County as Originally Posted" to "United States COVID-19 Community Levels by County" on March 31, 2022.

March 31, 2022: Column name for county population was changed to “county_population”. No change was made to the data points previous released.

March 31, 2022: New column, “health_service_area_population”, was added to the dataset to denote the total population in the designated Health Service Area based on 2019 Census estimate.

March 31, 2022: FIPS codes for territories American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and United States Virgin Islands were re-formatted to 5-digit numeric for records released on 3/3/2022 to be consistent with other records in the dataset.

March 31, 2022: Changes were made to the text fields in variables “county”, “state”, and “health_service_area” so the formats are consistent across releases.

March 31, 2022: The “%” sign was removed from the text field in column “covid_inpatient_bed_utilization”. No change was made to the data. As indicated in the column description, values in this column represent the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients (7-day average).

March 31, 2022: Data values for columns, “county_population”, “health_service_area_number”, and “health_service_area” were backfilled for records released on 2/24/2022. These columns were added since the week of 3/3/2022, thus the values were previously missing for records released the week prior.

April 7, 2022: Updates made to data released on 3/24/2022 for Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and United States Virgin Islands to correct a data mapping error.

April 21, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for counties in Nebraska for the week of April 21, 2022 have 3 counties identified in the high category and 37 in the medium category. CDC has been working with state officials to verify the data submitted, as other data systems are not providing alerts for substantial increases in disease transmission or severity in the state.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for McCracken County, KY for the week of May 5, 2022 have been updated to correct a data processing error. McCracken County, KY should have appeared in the low community level category during the week of May 5, 2022. This correction is reflected in this update.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for several Florida counties for the week of May 19th, 2022, have been corrected for a data processing error. Of note, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach Counties should have appeared in the high CCL category, and Osceola County should have appeared in the medium CCL category. These corrections are reflected in this update.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Orange County, New York for the week of May 26, 2022 displayed an erroneous case rate of zero and a CCL category of low due to a data source error. This county should have appeared in the medium CCL category.

June 2, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Tolland County, CT for the week of May 26, 2022 have been updated to correct a data processing error. Tolland County, CT should have appeared in the medium community level category during the week of May 26, 2022. This correction is reflected in this update.

June 9, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Tolland County, CT for the week of May 26, 2022 have been updated to correct a misspelling. The medium community level category for Tolland County, CT on the week of May 26, 2022 was misspelled as “meduim” in the data set. This correction is reflected in this update.

June 9, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Mississippi counties for the week of June 9, 2022 should be interpreted with caution due to a reporting cadence change over the Memorial Day holiday that resulted in artificially inflated case rates in the state.

July 7, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Rock County, Minnesota for the week of July 7, 2022 displayed an artificially low case rate and CCL category due to a data source error. This county should have appeared in the high CCL category.

July 14, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Massachusetts counties for the week of July 14, 2022 should be interpreted with caution due to a reporting cadence change that resulted in lower than expected case rates and CCL categories in the state.

July 28, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for all Montana counties for the week of July 21, 2022 had case rates of 0 due to a reporting issue. The case rates have been corrected in this update.

July 28, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Alaska for all weeks prior to July 21, 2022 included non-resident cases. The case rates for the time series have been corrected in this update.

July 28, 2022: A laboratory in Nevada reported a backlog of historic COVID-19 cases. As a result, the 7-day case count and rate will be inflated in Clark County, NV for the week of July 28, 2022.

August 4, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data was updated on August 2, 2022 in error during performance testing. Data for the week of July 28, 2022 was changed during this update due to additional case and hospital data as a result of late reporting between July 28, 2022 and August 2, 2022. Since the purpose of this data set is to provide point-in-time views of COVID-19 Community Levels on Thursdays, any changes made to the data set during the August 2, 2022 update have been reverted in this update.

August 4, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of July 28, 2022 for 8 counties in Utah (Beaver County, Daggett County, Duchesne County, Garfield County, Iron County, Kane County, Uintah County, and Washington County) case data was missing due to data collection issues. CDC and its partners have resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 4, 2022: Due to a reporting cadence change, case rates for all Alabama counties will be lower than expected. As a result, the CCL levels published on August 4, 2022 should be interpreted with caution.

August 11, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of August 4, 2022 for South Carolina have been updated to correct a data collection error that resulted in incorrect case data. CDC and its partners have resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 18, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of August 11, 2022 for Connecticut have been updated to correct a data ingestion error that inflated the CT case rates. CDC, in collaboration with CT, has resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 25, 2022: A laboratory in Tennessee reported a backlog of historic COVID-19 cases. As a result, the 7-day case count and rate may be inflated in many counties and the CCLs published on August 25, 2022 should be interpreted with caution.

August 25, 2022: Due to a data source error, the 7-day case rate for St. Louis County, Missouri, is reported as zero in the COVID-19 Community Level data released on August 25, 2022. Therefore, the COVID-19 Community Level for this county should be interpreted with caution.

September 1, 2022: Due to a reporting issue, case rates for all Nebraska counties will include 6 days of data instead of 7 days in the COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released on September 1, 2022. Therefore, the CCLs for all Nebraska counties should be interpreted with caution.

September 8, 2022: Due to a data processing error, the case rate for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,

United States - Net Issues of International Debt Securities for Issuers in General Government Sector, All Maturities, Residence of Issuer in Asia and Pacific was 4257.00000 Mil. of US $ in January of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Net Issues of International Debt Securities for Issuers in General Government Sector, All Maturities, Residence of Issuer in Asia and Pacific reached a record high of 16506.00000 in October of 2020 and a record low of -5240.00000 in January of 2024. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Net Issues of International Debt Securities for Issuers in General Government Sector, All Maturities, Residence of Issuer in Asia and Pacific - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

Conservation planning in the Great Plains often depends on understanding the degree of fragmentation of the various types of grasslands and savannas that historically occurred in this region. To define ecological subregions of the Great Plains, we used a revised version of Kuchler’s (1964) map of the potential natural vegetation of the United States. The map was digitized from the 1979 physiographic regions map produced by the Bureau of Land Management, which added 10 physiognomic types. All analyses are based on data sources specific to the United States; hence, we only analyze the portion of the Great Plains occurring in the United States.We sought to quantify the current amount of rangeland in the US Great Plains converted due to 1) woody plant encroachment; 2) urban, exurban, and other forms of development (e.g., energy infrastructure); and 3) cultivation of cropland. At the time of this analysis, the most contemporary measure of land cover across the United States was the 2011 NLCD (Homer et al. 2015). One limitation of the NLCD is that some grasslands with high rates of productivity, such as herbaceous wetlands or grasslands along riparian zones, are misclassified as cropland. A second limitation is the inability to capture cropland conversion occurring after 2011 (Lark et al. 2015). Beginning in 2009 (and retroactively for 2008), the US Department of Agriculture - NASS has annually produced a Cropland Data Layer (CDL) for the United States from satellite imagery, which maps individual crop types at a 30-m spatial resolution. We used the annual CDLs from 2011 to 2017 to map the distribution of cropland in the Great Plains. We merged this map with the 2011 NLCD to evaluate the degree of fragmentation of grasslands and savannas in the Great Plains as a result of conversion to urban land, cropland, or woodland. We produced two maps of fragmentation (best case and worst case scenarios) that quantify this fragmentation at a 30 x 30 m pixel resolution across the US Great Plains, and make them available for download here. Resources in this dataset: Resource title: Data Dictionary for Figure 2 derived land cover of the US portion of the North American Great Plains File name: Figure2_Key for landcover classes.csv Resource title: Figure 1. Potential natural vegetation of US portion of the North American Great Plains, adapted from Kuchler (1964). File name: Figure1_Kuchler_GPRangelands.zip Resource description: Extracted grassland, shrubland, savanna, and forest communities in the US Great Plains from the revised Kuchler natural vegetation map Resource title: Figure 2. Derived land cover of the US portion of the North American Great Plains. File name: Figure2_Key for landcover classes.zip Resource description: The fNLCD-CDL product estimates that 43.7% of the Great Plains still consists of grasslands and shrublands, with the remainder consisting of 40.6% cropland, 4.4% forests, 3.0% UGC, 3.0% developed open space, 2.9% improved pasture or hay fields, 1.2% developed land, 1.0% water, and 0.2% barren land, with important regional and subregional variation in the extent of rangeland loss to cropland, forests, and developed land. Resource title: Figure 3. Variation in the degree of fragmentation of Great Plains measured in terms of distance to cropland, forest, or developed lands. File name: Figure3_bestcase_disttofrag.zip Resource description: This map depicts a “best case” scenario in which 1) croplands are mapped based only on the US Department of AgricultureNational Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Data Layers (2011e2017), 2) all grass-dominated cover types including hay fields and improved pasture are considered rangelands, and 3) developed open space (as defined by the National Land Cover Database) are assumed to not be a fragmenting land cover type. Resource title: Figure 4. Variation in the degree of fragmentation of Great Plains measured in terms of distances to cropland, forest, or developed lands. File name: Figure4_worstcase_disttofrag.zip Resource description: This map depicts a ‘worst case’ scenario in which 1) croplands are mapped based on the US Department of AgricultureNational Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Data Layers (2011e2017) and the 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD), 2) hay fields and improved pasture are not included as rangelands, and 3) developed open space (as defined by NLCD) is included as a fragmenting land cover type.

Graph and download economic data for Federal Debt: Total Public Debt (GFDEBTN) from Q1 1966 to Q2 2025 about public, debt, federal, government, and USA.

United States - of Issues, with a Maturity Greater Than 80 Days, Used in Calculating the AA Nonfinancial Commercial Paper Rates was 7.00000 Number in September of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - of Issues, with a Maturity Greater Than 80 Days, Used in Calculating the AA Nonfinancial Commercial Paper Rates reached a record high of 151.00000 in May of 2020 and a record low of 0.00000 in January of 2001. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - of Issues, with a Maturity Greater Than 80 Days, Used in Calculating the AA Nonfinancial Commercial Paper Rates - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on September of 2025.

By tapping into the perspectives of older adults and their caregivers, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA) helps inform the public, health care providers, policymakers, and advocates on issues related to health, health care and health policy affecting Americans 50 years of age and older. The poll is designed as a recurring, nationally representative household survey of U.S. adults, which allows assessment of issues in a timely fashion. Launched in spring 2017, the NPHA is modeled after the highly successful University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. The NPHA grew out of a strong interest in aging-related issues among many members of the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), which brings together more than 600 faculty who study health, health care and the impacts of health policy. IHPI directs the poll which is sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan academic medical center.