In a Feb. 24 address to Congress, President Barack Obama vowed to tackle the problems at the root of the nation’s faltering economy. While there is general agreement among religious groups that strengthening the economy should be a top policy priority for the government, people of different faiths are divided in their support for addressing other policy issues, according to a Pew Forum analysis of selected issues included in a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

issue priorities
Data from Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey, conducted Jan. 7-11 2009.

* For the complete list of issues, see the survey report. Respondents were asked to categorize each item as a top priority for Barack Obama and Congress this year, important but lower priority, not too important, or something that should not be done. For question wording, see the survey topline.