POLITICO-Harvard poll: Gun policies, along with abortion, inflation and economy, are top concern for voters

Democratic candidates across the country are aiming to make abortion a frontline issue in the upcoming midterms, but gun policies ranked higher as an immediate concern for voters, according to a POLITICO-Harvard survey released Thursday.

The survey asked 1,815 registered voters to say which issues were “extremely important” in their congressional vote. Abortion ranked fourth with 44 percent of them saying it is “extremely important,” and while it polled much higher than it had in 2020 or 2018, it still fell below inflation (51 percent), the economy and jobs (49 percent), and guns (46 percent).

The report examines the views of registered voters as they head into the 2022 congressional election. First, the report focuses on voters’ issue priorities when deciding which party’s congressional candidate to vote for. Second, looking at registered voters who say each of the 19 issues will be extremely important to their own voting decision, the report shows which party’s candidate those issue voters intend to vote for. Third, among registered voters who say three health-related issues – abortion, gun policies, or health care (not including COVID-19) – will be extremely important in their voting decision, the report examines the positions these voters take when it comes to that issue of extreme importance to them. The report focuses on registered voters because it is not clear from the various polls taken to date how many people will actually turn out to vote in the 2022 election.