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Iowa: Most important issue (vote choice)

Election 2008
Election 2006
Election 2004
Election 2002
Election 1998

Election 2008

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	February 18, 2008	March 31, 2008	May 13, 2008
Economy	35%	40%	43%
War in Iraq	17%	21%	17%
Immigration	10%	9%	7%
National security	12%	9%	10%
Health care	10%	7%	10%
Government ethics and corruption	6%	6%	7%
Social Security	4%	3%	3%
Other	4%	2%	1%
No opinion	3%	3%	3%
Poll	Rasmussen	Rasmussen	Rasmussen
Sample	500 LV	500 LV	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5	± 4.5	± 4.5

1 "When thinking about how you will vote in the next Presidential election, which of the following issues is most important - the economy, the War in Iraq, immigration, national security, health care, Social Security, or government ethics and corruption?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	Republican caucus voters		Democratic caucus voters
Issue¹	December 14-18, 2007	December 26-30, 2007	December 14-18, 2007	December 26-30, 2007
The economy	25%	26%	26%	27%
Illegal immigration	20%	20%	9%	6%
Abortion	18%	14%	2%	1%
Terrorism	17%	18%	2%	2%
The war in Iraq	12%	14%	30%	35%
Health care	7%	7%	27%	26%
Other (vol.)	1%	1%	4%	1%
No opinion	1%	0%	0%	1%
Poll	CNN	CNN	CNN	CNN
Sample	359 LV	373 LV	543 LV	482 LV
MoE	± 5.0	± 5.0	± 4.0	± 4.5

1 "Which of the following issues will be most important to you when you decide how to vote for president?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	Republican caucus voters		Democratic caucus voters
Issue¹	December 10-13, 2007	December 26-27, 2007	December 10-13, 2007	December 26-27, 2007
War on terror	32%	24%	1%	1%
Immigration reform	21%	25%	2%	---
Moral issues	20%	26%	---	---
Lowering taxes	13%	11%	---	---
Economy / job creation	6%	7%	29%	28%
Troops out of Iraq	4%	3%	26%	29%
Health care costs	3%	2%	27%	27%
Global warming / environment	---	---	11%	6%
Balancing budget	---	---	3%	5%
Other / No opinion	2%	2%	2%	2%
Poll	KCCI-TV / Research 2000	KCCI-TV / Research 2000	KCCI-TV / Research 2000	KCCI-TV / Research 2000
Sample	500 LV	500 LV	500 LV	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5	± 4.5	± 4.5	± 4.5

1 "What is the single most important issue that you would like the candidates to talk more about?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	November 26-27, 2007
Immigration	25%
National security	21%
Economy	18%
War in Iraq	14%
Other / No opinion	22%
Poll	Rasmussen
Sample	839 LV
MoE	± 3.5

1 Poll of likely Republican caucus voters only.

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	November 26-27, 2007	December 10, 2007
War in Iraq	35%	31%
Economy	23%	24%
Health care	18%	21%
Other / No opinion	24%	24%
Poll	Rasmussen	Rasmussen
Sample	1,156 LV	1,106 LV
MoE	± 3.0	± 3.0

1 Poll of likely Republican caucus voters only.

Election 2006

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (General)

Issue¹	Very important	Somewhat important	Not very important	Not at all important	No opinion
The war on terror	72%	24%	3%	1%	0%
Domestic issues like education, health care, and Social Security	69%	26%	4%	1%	0%
Reigning in government corruption	69%	22%	5%	0%	3%
The economy	64%	33%	3%	0%	1%
Immigration	53%	27%	13%	5%	2%
Cultural issues like abortion, same sex marriage, and family values	53%	24%	16%	6%	2%
Poll	Rasmussen
Date	October 5, 2006
Sample	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5

1 "I'm going to read you a short list of issues in the news today. For each, please let me know how important it will be in terms of how you will vote this November ...?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (General)

Issue¹	July 27, 2006
The economy	34%
The war in Iraq	14%
Government corruption	14%
Immigration	12%
National security	10%
Same sex marriage	5%
Some other issue	6%
No opinion	5%
Poll	Rasmussen
Sample	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5

1 "In terms of how you will vote this November, which of the following issues is most important ... the economy, immigration, government corruption, national security, the war in Iraq, same-sex marriage, or some other issue?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (General)

Issue¹	February 7, 2006
The situation in Iraq	31%
The economy	29%
Health care	21%
Development of alternative energy resources	13%
No opinion	6%
Poll	Rasmussen
Sample	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5

1 "In determining how you will vote, which of the following issues is the most important issue ... the situation in Iraq, the economy, health care, or developing alternative sources of energy?"

Importance As Voting Issue (General)

Issue¹	Very important	Somewhat important	Not very important	Not at all important	No opinion
The issue of health care	71%	21%	7%	0%	1%
Developing alternative sources of energy	68%	25%	6%	0%	0%
The economy	65%	33%	2%	0%	0%
The situation in Iraq	64%	27%	5%	2%	2%
Poll	Rasmussen
Date	February 7, 2006
Sample	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5

1 "When it comes to determining how you will vote this year, how important is ...?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (General): Iraq vs. Economy

Issue¹	February 7, 2006
The economy	50%
Situation in Iraq	43%
No opinion	7%
Poll	Rasmussen
Sample	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5

1 "Suppose you had to choose between the situation in Iraq and the economy. Which of those issues is most important?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (Congress): Iraq vs. Immigration

Issue¹	November 28, 2005	January 9, 2006
Situation in Iraq	59%	55%
Immigration	30%	34%
Some other issue	7%	6%
No opinion	5%	6%
Poll	Rasmussen	Rasmussen
Sample	500 LV	500 LV
MoE	± 4.5	± 4.5

1 "When it comes to determining how you will vote in the U.S. Congressional race this year, which issue is more important ... immigration or the situation in Iraq?"

Most Important Factor for Vote Choice (Governor)

Factor¹	Major role	Minor role	No role	No opinion
The candidate's ability to be a strong leader	89%	9%	1%	1%
The candidate's depth of knowledge about the issues	89%	8%	1%	2%
The candidate's personal integrity	85%	11%	3%	1%
The candidate's ability to work with Iowa lawmakers to get things done	83%	14%	2%	1%
The candidate's position on education	81%	16%	2%	1%
The candidate's intelligence	81%	13%	4%	2%
The candidate's position on economic issues	80%	17%	2%	1%
The candidate's stand on health care issues	75%	22%	2%	1%
The candidate's position on taxes	71%	25%	2%	2%
The candidate's stand on abortion	45%	40%	12%	3%
The candidate's political party affiliation	37%	45%	16%	2%
The candidate's faith in God and involvement with his church	37%	40%	21%	2%
The candidate's performances in debates	28%	56%	13%	3%
The candidate's choice of a running mate	24%	61%	12%	3%
Poll	Iowa Poll
Date	October 8-11, 2006
Sample	800 LV
MoE	± 3.5

1 "I'm going to mention some things voters sometimes take into consideration when deciding how to vote for governor. For each, please tell me if this plays a major role in making your choice for governor, a minor role, or no role." The Iowa Poll is sponsored by the Des Moines Register.

Election 2004

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	September 13-14, 2004	October 15-18, 2004	October 27-29, 2004
Terrorism / Iraq combined	37%	36%	40%
Economy	22%	22%	23%
Health care	15%	14%	15%
Moral issues	14%	14%	13%
Jobs	8%	9%	7%
Taxes	4%	3%	3%
No opinion	0%	2%	0%
Poll	MSNBC / Knight-Ridder Mason-Dixon	MSNBC / Knight-Ridder Mason-Dixon	MSNBC / Knight-Ridder Mason-Dixon
Sample	625 LV	625 LV	625 LV
MoE	± 4.0	± 4.0	± 4.0

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	October 27-30, 2004
Economy	32%
Iraq	27%
Terrorism	22%
Health care	16%
No opinion	3%
Poll	CNN / USA Today / Gallup
Sample	1,119 LV
MoE	± 3.0

1 "If you had to choose, which of the following issues will be most important to your vote for president this year?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	September 21-22, 2004	October 30-31, 2004
Terrorism / Homeland security	23%	19%
Economy	20%	21%
Health care / Medicare	14%	10%
Iraq	14%	19%
Social Security	6%	5%
Education	6%	3%
Foreign policy	6%	N/A
Taxes	4%	2%
Gay marriage	3%	3%
Abortion	N/A	8%
Stem cell research	N/A	2%
No opinion	4%	8%
Poll	Fox News	Fox News
Sample	800 LV	700 LV
MoE	± 3.5	± 3.7

1 "Which one of the following issues will be most important to your vote for president?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (President)

Issue¹	June 21 – July 12, 2004	September 27 – October 3, 2004
Economy and jobs	27%	23%
War in Iraq	18%	24%
Health care	14%	9%
U.S. campaign against terrorism	11%	17%
Medicare and prescription drugs	9%	8%
Education	8%	5%
Gay marriage	7%	5%
Other	5%	6%
Don't know	3%	4%
Sample	614 RV	599 LV
MoE	± 4.0	± 4.0
Poll	Humphrey Institute	Humphrey Institute

1 "Which one of these issues will be the single most important issue in your vote for president this year?"

Election 2002

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (Governor)

Issue¹	September 8-10, 2002
Education	20%
State budget	19%
Economy	16%
Taxes / state spending	16%
Health Care (HMO's)	11%
Medicare	8%
Crime	4%
Guns	3%
Moral issues	2%
Other	1%
Poll	KCCI-TV / Research 2000
Sample	600 LV
MoE	± 4.0

1 "What will be the single most important issue in determining your vote for Governor?"

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (U.S. Senate)

Issue¹	September 8-10, 2002
Economy	18%
Health Care (HMO's)	16%
Medicare	15%
Social Security	14%
Taxes / spending	12%
Homeland security	11%
Education	10%
Moral issues	3%
Other	1%
Poll	KCCI-TV / Research 2000
Sample	600 LV
MoE	± 4.0

1 "What will be the single most important issue in determining your vote for U.S. Senate?"

Election 1998

Most Important Issue for Vote Choice (Governor)

Issue¹	Democrats	Republicans
Education	37%	28%
Taxes	9%	17%
Crime	4%	6%
Other / No opinion	50%	49%
Poll	Iowa Poll	Iowa Poll
Date	March 26-28, 1998	March 26-28, 1998
Sample	400 LV	400 LV
MoE	± 4.9	± 4.9

1 "What is the most important issue in the governor's race?"