How Battleground State Voters’ Top Election Issues Compare

With just over two months to go until the 2024 election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will be looking to step up their campaign in swing states across the country.
November’s race looks set to be another tightly fought battle between the Democratic and Republican nominees, meaning every vote in the key battleground states could prove vital in determining the overall winner.
Recent polling of the competitive states analyzed by Newsweek suggests that each one shares the same issue, with the economy the number-one hot topic in deciding how they will vote.
This is perhaps no surprise. The economy is usually considered the main election issue for voters, and this race arrives after record-breaking gas prices and decades-high levels of inflation during the Joe Biden presidency.
The other issue likely to be key for voters is abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which eliminated the constitutional right to the medical procedure.
Harris’ team has suggested that Trump and his running mate JD Vance will look to further restrict abortion access if they enter the White House next year.
Trump has often disputed this claim, but said on Friday said he would vote no on a ballot in Florida which would repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The Republican previously suggested said he would vote in favor of the ballot measure, suggesting “we need more than six weeks,” in an interview with NBC News, and received conservative backlash over the remarks.
The two most recent swing state surveys by The New York Times/Siena College reflect how important these topics are to voters.
The August surveys show that the economy is the number-one issue in the seven battle states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with more than one in five voters in each state considering it their priority voting issue.
Abortion is considered the second or third most prominent issue across all seven states.
Voters across the seven battleground states say that immigration is also in their top three key topics, with the highest percentage—16 percent—recorded in Pennsylvania.
An Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll of the same swing states also found that “economy (jobs, inflation, taxes)” is the main issue.
The states where the economy is considered by far the number one issue include Pennsylvania (just over 51 percent), with “threats to democracy” a distant second on nearly 11 percent and immigration third on just over 7 percent.
In North Carolina, 48 percent of voters named the economy as the main issue in their state, 40 points ahead of the second and third-placed issues of health care and education (both just over 8 percent).
In comparison, the poll shows that in Arizona, located on the southern border, the gap between the economy (just over 30 percent) and immigration (26 percent) as the first and second most important topics is just 4 points.
Trump’s and Harris’ offices have been contacted for comment via email.
Unlike the NYT/Siena polls, the Emerson College survey included “housing affordability” and “threats to democracy” as options in its survey list of potential issues in each state.
As a result, the gap in Nevada between the economy being the priority (almost 37 percent) and housing affordability (15 percent) as the second main issue is 22 points.
Housing affordability is listed as second or third most important to voters in Arizona (13 percent), Georgia (almost 11 percent), Michigan (nearly 10 percent) and Wisconsin (just over 7 percent).
Threats to democracy—which has been a major campaign attack line for Harris against Trump—is also considered the main issue by more than one in 10 voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, but does not make the top three in the other swing states.
Elsewhere, a Fox News survey of the key “Sun Belt” states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina showed the economy will be the most important issue for a total of 41 percent of voters in their choice of next president.
Immigration (14 percent) and abortion (13 percent) were next, with all other topics including health care (8 percent) and election integrity (7 percent) only recording single digits.
On August 19, the Redfield & Wilton Strategies polling company released their latest swing states survey results, with their data expanded to include the competitive states of Florida, Minnesota and New Mexico.
The results show that the cost of living will be voters’ main election issue heading into November, with between 63 percent and 75 percent across the 10 states saying the cost of living will be “extremely” important.
In Pennsylvania, election integrity is the second issue described as extremely important (53 percent), along with voters in Arizona (55 percent) and Nevada (54 percent).
The same poll also showed that around half of all voters in each state consider illegal immigration (between 44 and 54 percent), taxation (47 to 53 percent), abortion (45 to 52 percent) and policing/crime (42 to 50 percent) as extremely important in determining their vote.