3:29p.m.
Americans will head to the polls this November with a much different view on the nation’s biggest problems than in 2016.
A new survey conducted by Pew Research Center found that more U.S. adults view drug addiction, college affordability, sexism, and racism as “very big” problems than did two years ago.
Just before the 2016 presidential election, 56 percent of Americans already viewed drug addiction as being a “very big” problem, but now, that number has risen to 68 percent. Meanwhile, 63 percent now say college affordability is a very big problem, compared to 52 percent in 2016. Today, 34 percent say sexism is a very big problem, compared to 23 percent in 2016; and 46 percent say racism is a very big problem, compared to 39 percent in 2016.
68% of US adults now say drug addiction is a very big problem for the country, up from 56% in 2016 https://t.co/LTk7vFjdW7 pic.twitter.com/xKc8cG9ofr
— John Gramlich (@johngramlich) October 22, 2018
Some of these answers are split among party lines. For instance, while 48 percent of Democrats see sexism as a very big problem, only 17 percent of Republicans do. But a few issues, including drug addiction and ethics in government, earned bipartisan concern.
Then there are issues that have become less troublesome. Two years ago, 47 percent of those surveyed said job opportunities for Americans was a very big problem, but now, that number has shrunk to just 25 percent. In fact, of the 18 issues presented, job opportunities ranked lowest as the least of Americans’ worries. Additionally, just 35 percent now say that terrorism is a very big problem, compared to 53 percent in 2016.
The poll surveyed 10,683 U.S. adults online from Sept. 24 through Oct. 7. The margin of error is 1.5 percentage points. See more results at Pew Research Center. Brendan Morrow