January 7, 2025
More Republicans and Democrats cite immigration as a top issue for the government to work on in 2025 compared to last year. The economy and inflation also remain high on the public’s agenda, as well as foreign policy issues, the environment, health care reform, education, and abortion. Most Americans are not confident in the ability of the federal government to make progress on the important issues facing the country in the coming year.
To explore the public’s agenda for 2025, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a poll in December 2024, in which respondents provided up to five volunteered issues that they believe should be priorities for the federal government in 2025.
Following a presidential election cycle with heavy emphasis on immigration, the economy, and reproductive rights, these issues are among the top concerns of the public. More adults name immigration as a top issue compared with last year.
After a year of war between Israel and Hamas and entering the third year of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, foreign policy issues also remain a top concern amongst the public.
Top issues are similar across political parties. Both Democrats and Republicans cite immigration, the economy, inflation, and foreign policy as top issues. Democrats cite the environment and climate as their top concern, while Republicans put government spending and debt into their top five.
With Donald Trump taking office in January, Republicans are showing more optimism in the direction of the country and ability of the federal government to address the top concerns facing the country. However, overall confidence in the ability of the federal government to make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country is low, with just 15% of adults being extremely or very confident.
The nationwide poll was conducted December 5-9, 2024 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,251 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.7 percentage points.
- Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (January 2025). “2025: The public’s priorities and expectations” https://apnorc.org/projects/2025-the-publics-priorities-and-expectations/
