Senior Citizens' Political Hot Buttons Not High with Most Americans

November 30, 2006 – As the new year approaches and the new Democrat Congress considers their agenda, the hot button issues for senior citizens and older baby boomers are far down the list of importance for most Americans. Two recent polls – Harris and Gallup – show Social Security and Medicare are not among the most important issues.

Republicans may revoke physician pay cut, Democrats HMO subsidy

November 10, 2006 – A flurry of activity impacting Medicare is expected in the remaining days of the lame duck Republican Congress and the early days of the new Democratic Congress. A major battle is already shaping up over a powerful Democrat’s proposal that Medicare stop subsidy payments to HMOs. The pay cut for physicians in 2007 that Medicare has declared looks likely to face a move by Republicans to eliminate the cut or modify it, which may have Democratic support. Read more...

Read more on Politics for Senior Citizens

When it comes to the most important issues, the war in Iraq is still number one in both polls. In the Harris Poll, Social Security was ranked in 8th place and Medicare was tied for 9th with four other issues. Gallup just ranks the top ten issues – Social Security was again 8th and Medicare did not make the list.

The Harris Polls shows "the war" is still the most-cited, as one-third (33%) of Americans believe this is one of the two issues the government needs to address.

Respondents to the Harris Poll followed this with healthcare (15%), the economy (12%) and immigration (11%).

The Harris Poll was an open-ended question where we allowed the respondent to offer their answer in his or her own words. Since 33 percent say the war and 10 percent specifically mention Iraq, Harris kept these responses separate. However, it is worth noting that altogether, 43 percent are saying that the situation in Iraq is one of the most important issues for the government to address.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between November 17 and 21, 2006 by Harris Interactive.

The Harris Poll

Rank	Issue	‘96	‘97	‘98	‘99	‘00	‘01	‘02	‘03	‘04	‘05	‘06	‘06	‘06	"06	06	06	06
		April	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	Feb	May	June	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
1.	(The) war	X	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	28	27	28	22	29	33
2.	Healthcare (not Medicare)	16	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	20	8	12	12	12	13	15
3.	The economy (non-specific)	14	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	15	13	14	16	13	15	12
4.	Immigration	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	5	16	20	10	12	12	11
5.	Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)	*	*	*	1	-	-	11	3	9	6	5	7	8	7	6	8	10
6.	Education	14	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	8	5	7	8	7	9	7
6.	Employment/jobs	9	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	5	5	7	6	6	6	7
7.	Taxes	11	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	6	5	4	4	4	5	5
8.	Social security	X	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	7	4	5	2	4	5	4
9.	(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	2	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	5	3	4	3	3	5	3
9.	Military/defense	1	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	3	1	4	3	4	3	3
9.	Terrorism	X	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	6	3	4	9	9	7	3
9.	Medicare	3	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	5	2	1	1	2	2	3
9.	Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	3	5	2	2	3	3
10.	Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	3	4	2	2	1	3	2
10.	Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	3	3	2	4	4	3	2
10.	Environment	1	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	2	2	3	2	3	2	2
10.	National security	X	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	3	2	3	3	2	2
10.	Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	2
10.	Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	2
10.	Crime/violence	16	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	1	2	2	3	2	2	2
11.	Abortion	4	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	2	1	1	1	2	1
11.	Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	x	4	4	4	2	1
11.	Drugs	4	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	2	1	2	3	1	1
11.	Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	3	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1
11.	Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	2	14	8	8	4	4	1
11.	Homelessness	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	1
11.	Human/civil/women's rights	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1
11.	Welfare	13	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	1	1	X	*	1	1
11.	Family values (decline of)	2	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	*	*	1	1	*	1	1
11.	Religion (decline of)	*	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	*	2	1	1	*	1	1
11.	Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	2	1	*	1	*	1	*	1
11.	Medical research	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	2	1	*	1	*	*	1
11.	Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	*	1	3	1	1	*	1
11.	Middle East peace process between Palestinians andIsrael	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	*	1
	Air Travel Safety	-	-	-	-	-	1	*	*	X	*	X	X	*	1	1	X	*
	School safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	1	*	1	1	1	*	*
	Same sex rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	*	2	*	*	1	*
	CIA leak	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	X	*	*	X	X	X	*
	Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	*	*	1	1	*	1	*
	Downsizing government	X	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	*	*	1	*	*	*	*
	Election/Voter reform	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	1	1	*	*	1	*	*	*
	Disaster relief/Hurricane Relief	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	1	*	1	*	*	*	*
	North Korea	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	X	*	*
	FEMA	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	*	*	*	1	X	X	x
	Bush/president	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	1	1	X	*	1	1	x
	Other1	7	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	8	1	5	6	6	5	4	8	8
	Not sure/refused/no issue	7	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	9	8	6	4	6	6	6	10	9

The People's Priorities: Gallup's Top 10

The Top 10 Priorities list is based on an analysis of open-ended responses to questions asking Americans to name the top priorities for the government and to name the most important problem facing the nation today, plus a series of additional questions in which Americans rate the priorities of the issues and concerns facing the nation today.

1. Iraq

Iraq is clearly the dominant policy issue on Americans' minds. It has been at the top of the list on Gallup's most important problem list since March 2004. By a wide margin over any other issue, Americans say it should be the president's and Congress' top priority. In general, Americans have been more likely over the past two years to say that U.S. involvement in the war was a mistake than favor it.

2. Terrorism and National Security

Terrorism is to a significant extent a latent concern for Americans. Along with the Iraq war, terrorism emerges as a top election or public policy concern when Americans are asked to rate the importance of a battery of specific issues. But the public is less likely to name terrorism in open-ended questions asking for the nation's most pressing problems or top issues for Congress to deal with -- typically no more than 10% to 15% in 2006.

3. The Economy

American concern about the economy as a top-of-mind issue has declined, most likely because of lower gas prices. But a majority of Americans still believe the U.S. economy is getting worse, rather than better.

4. Energy

Americans' concern about energy varies to a significant degree depending on the price of gasoline at the pump.

5. Illegal Immigration

Immigration remains a concern for Americans, though its prominence in the public's mind has faded some since the spring. Generally speaking, Americans view immigration positively and while few want to see immigration levels increased, slightly more want them kept at present levels rather than decreased.

6. Healthcare

Healthcare is among the top domestic concerns of Americans. Healthcare costs are among the top financial problems facing American families, and this is listed as one of the top economic problems for the country as a whole. Healthcare costs are volunteered as the top specific health problem facing the country, above and beyond diseases such as cancer. Despite these extreme levels of concern, there is little consensus on exactly what Americans want done to curb healthcare costs. By substantial majorities, Americans favor various solutions, such as offering tax deductions to businesses that provide healthcare coverage, expanding low-income federal assistance, expanding Medicare down to age 55, offering tax deductions for the uninsured, and requiring businesses to offer health insurance. Importantly, the one option a majority of Americans do not favor is a national healthcare plan.

7. Education

Americans are more positive about the job being done by their local public schools than they are about schools in general across the country. The public tends to believe that it is the responsibility of public schools to try to close the achievement gap between white students and black and Hispanic students.

8. Social Security

Most Americans believe the Social Security system will eventually run out of money and many -- particularly younger Americans -- are skeptical they personally will ever receive Social Security benefits. There is little consensus on what to do. The public is most likely to favor reform proposals targeted at wealthier Americans' Social Security taxes or future benefits. A majority of Americans oppose broader-based reforms, such as raising Social Security taxes on all workers or increasing the age at which retirees are eligible for full benefits. Historically, Americans appeared receptive to the idea of allowing workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the stock market, but as the debate over Social Security reform heated up in 2005, opinion shifted to where more Americans expressed opposition to this proposal.

9. Fixing Government Itself

Americans are quite negative in their views of elected representatives in Congress. Job approval ratings of Congress are only in the mid-20% range, the lowest that Gallup has observed in a decade. Americans continue to believe that political officeholders at the federal level are not highly honest and ethical.

10. The Federal Deficit

Ten years ago, the federal deficit was a major top-of-mind concern of Americans, but today a smaller fraction mentions the issue when asked about the most important problem facing the nation or for Congress to deal with. The deficit also takes a backseat when Americans are asked whether they prefer holding down the federal deficit or increasing government spending on domestic issues such as education or healthcare.

>> Read more at Gallup – click here.

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