(image from pexels.com)
Data from a new Gallup poll found healthcare topping Americans’ list of domestic concerns, with more saying they worry “a great deal” about it (61%) than about 15 other domestic policy areas. This was followed by four economic matters of high concern to about half of adults: the economy; inflation; federal spending and the budget deficit; and, the way income and wealth are distributed.
Americans were least likely to be concerned about race relations, illegal immigration, unemployment, and the availability and affordability of energy. Roughly one-third said they worry a great deal about each of these.
Healthcare returned to the top tier after several years when economic matters commanded more attention. While the percentage highly worried about the availability and affordability of healthcare hasn’t increased over the past year, ongoing public concerns about healthcare costs, including personal challenges in affording care, make this a perennial concern.
Hunger and homelessness, environmental quality, and the size and power of the federal government round out the top half of the list of 16 items rated this year. Social Security, at 43% high concern, matches this year’s average level across the list. Terrorism, crime and violence, and drug use are among the lower-ranked concerns. With sizable proportions worrying “a fair amount” about each of the 16 issues, all are significant concerns to at least the slight majority of Americans.
Healthcare’s current position represents a return to its prominence in prior decades. It ranked as the top concern from 2015 to 2020, before being displaced during the Biden presidency by other issues, especially the economy and inflation. Before that, from 2002 to 2014, the economy and healthcare had either tied or traded places as the leading concern. While healthcare roughly tied the economy as Americans’ top concern in 2025, it now leads by a full 10 points.
Republicans and Democrats worry about sharply different things, with illegal immigration the chief concern of Republicans, at 55%, followed by federal spending and the budget deficit (47%), drug use (42%), and crime and violence (41%). By contrast, Democrats’ top concerns are healthcare (80%), income/wealth distribution (77%) and the economy (69%).
Independents’ top concerns (healthcare, inflation, federal spending and the economy) overlap with both partisan groups, although more with Democrats.
