A lot of survey results are worthless because the survey organizations word questions and possible responses in such a way to make some responses more likely than others - misleading questions with implied “right” answers. (See here, here and here for examples). Compared to questions with a limited set of response options, open-ended questions are often more revealing of respondents’ true feelings. As Richard Curtain, Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, puts it: “open-ended questions are superior [to close-ended questions] in that they measure what is of most concern to the respondent without any prompting.”
Gallup has been asking the open-ended question “What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?” every month for decades. And the answers have indeed been revealing. Here are the latest poll results:
Additional responses (1% or less): International issues, problems, Lack of money, Taxes, Wage issues, Elections/Election reform, The media, Foreign policy/Foreign aid/Focus overseas, Lack of military defense, National security, Terrorism, Judicial system/Courts/Laws, Wars/War (nonspecific)/Fear of war, Social Security, Situation with China, Care for the elderly/Medicare , Welfare, Gay/Lesbian rights, Situation in Iraq/ISIS, Situation with Russia, War/conflict between Middle East nations, Situation with North Korea, High cost of living/Inflation, Foreign trade/Trade deficit, Corporate corruption, High cost of living/Inflation, Foreign trade/Trade deficit. Fuel/Oil prices. No Opinion: 3%. Percentages total more than 100% due to multiple mentions.
What stands out in the above table is the low priority Americans give to economic problems* in general. As the following chart shows, this response pattern pretty much tracks the state of the economy:
Basically, when times are good - low unemployment, higher wages, more consumption, decent social mobility - Americans turn their attention to non-economic problems, like the quality of government and immigration. Something for the Democrats to keep in mind.
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* I’m not sure why Gallup lumps together poverty/hunger/homelessness together as non-economic problems.
References:
Consumer Economic Expectations: Persistent Partisan Differences by Richard Curtin, Director of the Survey Research Center/University of Michigan. September 2018
Many Americans Think Economic Inequality Is A Problem — Just Not The Most Pressing One by Erin Doherty/FiveThirtyEight August 16, 2019
The Most Important Problem Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/1675/Most-Important-Problem.aspx?g_source=link_newsv9&g_campaign=item_262439&g_medium=copy Accessed 12/17/19