December 19, 2025
The American public’s priorities for the government in 2026 span a wide variety of issues from economic and personal finance issues to policy areas like health care and immigration to concerns about how well Washington is functioning.
To explore the public’s agenda for the coming year, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a poll in December 2025, in which respondents provided, in their own words, up to five issues that they believe should be priorities for the government in 2026.
In terms of broad policy areas, economic concerns dominate. About 7 in 10 Americans mention at least one economic issue for the government to prioritize in 2026. And 43% mention at least one issue related to personal finances, up from 31% last year.
Immigration issues (44%) and health care issues (41%) also dominate the public’s agenda. Immigration remains a top issue. Mentions of health care issues are up from last year (41% vs 33%)
In terms of specific issues, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to cite the environment (22% vs 5%) as a top problem, while Republicans are more likely than Democrats to mention crime (22% vs 5%) and taxes (19% vs 10%).
The public’s focus on other issues has declined. There was a decrease in the number of people who mentioned a foreign policy issue other than immigration, down to 25% from 35% last year. And only 4% mention women’s rights or abortion as specific issues this year, down from 16% last year.
The public is highly pessimistic about the ability of government to address their priorities, with only 11% expressing confidence, down from 15% last year. Republicans are more confident than independents or Democrats (25% vs 5% vs 2%) though Republicans’ confidence has slipped compared with last year (25% vs 35%).
Republicans are more optimistic than their Democratic counterparts that next year will be better for the United States and for themselves personally. Half of Republicans think 2026 will be better than 2025 for the country overall compared with 1 in 10 Democrats.
The nationwide poll was conducted December 4-8, 2025 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 1,146 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (December 2025). “2026: The public’s priorities and expectations.” https://apnorc.org/projects/2026-the-publics-priorities-and-expectations/
