President Joe Biden will deliver his third State of the Union address on March 7. Ahead of the speech, Americans are focused on the health of the economy and the recent surge of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as ongoing conflicts abroad.
Here’s a look at public opinion on key issues facing the country, drawn from recent Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. adults.
This analysis looks at Americans’ views on a variety of national issues ahead of the annual State of the Union address.
These findings primarily come from a survey of 5,140 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 16-21, 2024. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
Links to additional ATP surveys used for this analysis, including information about their methodologies, are available in the text.
Economy remains top of mind for most Americans
Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say strengthening the economy should be a top priority for Biden and Congress this year, according to a Center survey conducted in January. Of the 20 policy goals we asked about, no other issue stands out – as has been the case for the past two years.
This assessment comes amid ongoing worries about high prices. Majorities of U.S. adults say they are very concerned about the price of food and consumer goods (72%) and the cost of housing (64%).
Still, views of the economy overall have warmed a bit in the past year. Slightly more than a quarter of Americans (28%) rate U.S. economic conditions as excellent or good, an increase of 9 percentage points since last April. This shift is driven largely by Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents: 44% rate the economy positively, compared with just 13% of Republicans and GOP leaners.
Despite these sharply different assessments, majorities of both Democrats (63%) and Republicans (84%) say strengthening the economy should be a top policy goal this year. These shares are largely unchanged since last year.
Immigration resonates strongly with Republicans
About six-in-ten Americans (57%) say dealing with immigration should be a top policy goal for the president and Congress this year, a share that’s increased 18 points (from 39%) since the start of Biden’s term.
This change is almost entirely due to growing concern among Republicans: 76% now say immigration should be a top priority, up from 39% in 2021. By comparison, the 39% of Democrats who cite immigration as a priority has remained fairly stable since 2021.
Related: Latinos’ Views on the Migrant Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border
The growing number of migrant encounters at the southern border has emerged as a key issue in the 2024 election cycle. Biden and former President Donald Trump, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, both visited the border on Feb. 29.
Eight-in-ten U.S. adults say the federal government is doing a bad job dealing with the large number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, including 45% who say it’s doing a very bad job, according to our January survey. Republicans and Democrats alike fault the federal government for its handling of the border situation – 89% and 73%, respectively, say it’s doing a bad job.
The survey also asked Americans to react to nine potential policies that could address the situation at the border, and found broadly positive views of several. Half or more of U.S. adults say the following would make the situation better:
- Increasing the number of judges and staff to process asylum applications (60%)
- Creating more opportunities for people to legally immigrate to the U.S. (56%)
- Increasing deportations of people who are in the country illegally (52%)
Fewer than two-in-ten say any of these proposals would make the situation worse.
Terrorism and crime are growing concerns, particularly among Republicans
About six-in-ten U.S. adults say defending the country from future terrorist attacks (63%) and reducing crime (58%) should be political priorities this year. But Republicans place more emphasis on these issues than Democrats.
Republicans’ concerns about terrorism have risen 11 points since last year – 76% now say it should be a top policy priority, up from 65% then. By comparison, about half of Democrats (51%) say defending against terrorism should be a priority this year, while 55% said this last year.
Concerns about crime have risen somewhat in both parties since the start of Biden’s presidency. About seven-in-ten Republicans (68%) say reducing crime should be a top priority this year, up 13 points since 2021. And 47% of Democrats say the same, up 8 points since 2021.
Most Americans see current foreign conflicts as important to U.S. interests
As Biden urges Congress to pass emergency foreign aid, about three-quarters of Americans see the war between Israel and Hamas (75%), the tensions between China and Taiwan (75%), and the war between Russia and Ukraine (74%) as somewhat or very important to U.S. national interests, according to a separate Center survey from January.
Democrats and Republicans are about equally likely to see the Israel-Hamas war and China-Taiwan tensions as important to national interests. But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to describe the war in Ukraine this way (81% vs. 69%).
In a late 2023 survey, 48% of Republicans said the U.S. was giving too much support to Ukraine, while just 16% of Democrats said the same. This partisan gap has grown steadily wider since the beginning of the war.
Related: Americans’ Views of the Israel-Hamas War
Republicans and Democrats alike prioritize limiting money in politics
About six-in-ten Americans (62%) – including similar shares of Democrats (65%) and Republicans (60%) – say reducing the influence of money in politics should be a top policy goal this year.
Most Americans (72%) favor spending limits for political campaigns, according to a July 2023 Center survey. Eight-in-ten also say major campaign donors have too much influence over decisions that members of Congress make, while 73% say lobbyists and special interest groups have too much influence.
And 81% of Americans, including majorities in both parties, rate members of Congress poorly when it comes to keeping their personal financial interests separate from their work as public servants.
Wide partisan gaps on climate policy
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say protecting the environment (63% vs. 23%) and dealing with climate change (59% vs. 12%) should be top policy priorities for 2024. In fact, addressing climate change ranks last on Republicans’ list of priorities this year.
Views of the Biden administration’s current climate policies also differ sharply by party. Eight-in-ten Democrats say the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change, compared with 29% of Republicans, according to a Center survey from spring 2023.
Overall, a majority of U.S. adults (67%) support prioritizing the development of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, over expanding the production of oil, coal and natural gas. But Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to prefer this (90% vs. 42%). Still, the public overall is hesitant about a full energy transition: Just 31% say the U.S. should phase out fossil fuels completely.
Related: How Republicans view climate change and energy issues