With less than six months until the 2024 presidential election, Americans appear divided on key election considerations. While voters monitor new developments including former President Donald Trump’s felony conviction and President Joe Biden’s new executive actions on immigration, the upcoming Trump-Biden matchup has been on Americans’ minds for quite some time. This Spotlight looks at findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Survey, which was conducted online between August 25-30, 2023, to better understand what Americans see as top election issues as well as views on how the 2024 election will affect the future of American democracy.
Americans’ Top Critical Issues
Across 20 different political issues, the issue Americans are most likely to rate as a critical issue is increasing costs of housing and everyday expenses (62%). About half of Americans say crime (50%), health care (49%), human trafficking (48%), the health of democracy (47%), what children are learning in public schools (47%), and access to guns and gun safety (46%) are critical issues. Around four in ten Americans consider education (43%), immigration (40%), mental health (40%), the growing gap between rich and poor (40%), and climate change (38%) critical issues as well. In addition, about one-third of Americans say abortion (36%), jobs and unemployment (34%), terrorism (32%), infrastructure like bridges and the electrical grid (30%), racial inequality (29%), and reforming the U.S. Supreme Court (27%) are critical issues. Americans are less likely to regard artificial intelligence (19%) and LGBTQ rights (14%) as critical issues.
Increasing costs of housing and everyday expenses is the only issue that majorities of Democrats (63%), independents (61%), and Republicans (60%) all see as a critical issue. The majority of Democrats also rate climate change (66%), access to guns and gun safety (66%), health care (59%), the health of democracy (58%), the growing gap between the rich and poor (57%), mental health (54%), and racial inequality (51%) as critical issues. By contrast, the majority of Republicans rate what children are learning in public schools (59%), crime (57%), immigration (57%), and human trafficking (54%) as critical issues.
The State of American Democracy
Democracy Is at Stake in the 2024 Election
Three in four Americans (75%) say the future of American democracy is at stake in the 2024 presidential election, while 21% of Americans disagree. Democrats (84%) are more likely than Republicans (77%) and independents (73%) to agree with this statement.
Nearly eight in ten white Americans (78%) say democracy is at stake in the 2024 election, compared with 71% of Black Americans and 65% of Hispanic Americans. Older generations (85% of the Silent Generation, 82% of baby boomers, and 77% of Gen Xers) are more likely than younger generations (71% of millennials and 66% of Gen Zers) to believe American democracy is at stake in the upcoming presidential election. Eight in ten white Christians (80%) say that democracy is at stake in the 2024 election, while around seven in ten Christians of color (71%) say the same. Around three-fourths of non-Christians (78%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (76%) agree that the 2024 presidential election is a determinant of the state of American democracy.
Trump or Biden as a Threat to American Democracy
As of August 2023, Americans were split between the 2024 presidential candidates, with 48% saying they would vote for Biden and 46% saying they would vote for Trump if the election were only between the two candidates. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority (87%) of Republicans say they would vote for Trump, and the vast majority (90%) of Democrats say they would vote for Biden. Independents, however, were more split on their vote, with 46% saying they would vote for Biden and 45% saying they would vote for Trump.
When asked whether the reelection of Trump or Biden poses a threat to democracy, nearly six in ten Americans (57%) agree that the reelection of Donald Trump to the White House poses a threat to American democracy and way of life, while 41% disagree. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of Democrats (91%) say that Trump is a threat to American democracy, compared with 57% of independents and 22% of Republicans. On the other hand, a slim majority of Americans (53%) agree that Biden’s reelection to the White House poses a threat to American democracy and way of life, while 43% disagree. Nearly nine in ten (86%) Republicans believe that Biden’s reelection poses a threat to American democracy, while 56% of independents and 17% of Democrats share the same sentiment.
There are differences on this question by race, education, and religion. White Americans (51%) are less likely than Black (70%) and Hispanic Americans (67%) to believe that the reelection of Trump is a threat to American democracy and way of life, while white (59%) and Hispanic Americans (52%) are more likely than Black Americans (34%) to believe that Biden’s reelection poses a threat to American democracy and way of life.
In addition, nearly two-thirds of Americans with a four-year degree or higher (64%) agreed that Trump is a threat to American democracy, compared with more than half of Americans without a four-year degree (54%). In comparison, 45% of Americans with a four-year degree or higher agreed that Biden’s reelection poses a threat to democracy, compared with nearly six in ten Americans without a four-year degree (58%).
Finally, around seven in ten Christians of color (70%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (69%) say Trump’s reelection is a threat to democracy, while a similar percentage of white Christians say the same for Biden (70%). Four in ten white Christians (43%) say Trump is a threat to democracy, while nearly half of Christians of color (49%) and around one-third of religiously unaffiliated Americans (36%) say the same about Biden.
