Americans of both parties think the biggest issue the country faces is the government itself and “poor leadership”—outranking both inflation and the economy—according to a new Gallup poll, as headlines this month have been dominated by political controversies like the House Speaker vote and classified White House documents being found at leaders’ homes.
KEY FACTS
The poll, conducted January 2-22 among 1,011 U.S. adults, found 21% rank the government and poor leadership as “the most important problem facing the country today.”
Inflation (15%), immigration (11%) and the economy in general (10%) were the next-biggest issues for respondents.
Americans’ dislike of the government is up from November and December, when only 15% of respondents said the government was the biggest issue, versus 16% of Americans who were concerned about inflation and the economy.
Both sides of the aisle ranked the government as the largest problem, with 24% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents and 18% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents saying it was the biggest issue.
The issues Americans were less likely to rank as the biggest problem were “unifying the country” (6% said it’s the largest issue), race relations (5%), poverty (5%), crime (4%) and “ethical/moral/family decline” (4%).