Crime and Guns Spike on “Most Important Problem” Poll

Gallup has released its latest poll asking the open-ended question, “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?” Lydia Saad of Gallup has this report. Government leadership and economic issues continue to top the list, but the sharpest changes from the previous poll were in the numbers naming crime or guns as the top issue.

Ms. Saad notes:

The latest poll was conducted April 3-25, shortly after a gunman took the lives of six people, including three children, at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, in late March. The survey dates also encompass one day, April 10, on which seven shootings involving multiple victims (often called mass shootings) occurred in the U.S., the most in a single day thus far in 2023. Then a string of incidents occurred involving citizens shooting people mistakenly entering their car or property.

How much of the uptick is the result of timing of the poll and how much reflects a long-lasting change in public opinion? Hard to say. The next poll will likely tell us more, and Gallup takes them about once a month.

One problem with asking people to name the most important issue and then categorizing the answer is that there is a lot of overlap. Dissatisfaction with government leadership, for example, may be in substantial part because of policies on crime.