Poll: Arizonans care most about economy, least about border wall
Oct 18, 2016, 11:28 AM
(AP Photos)
(AP Photos)
PHOENIX — A poll released Monday said Arizonans care the most about improving the state’s economy and the least about building a wall on the Mexico border.
The poll from the Behavior Research Center asked 700 Arizonans to rate 23 election issues in order of importance on a scale, with one being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Those issues ranged from education and terrorism to the national debt and health care.
After gathering all the responses, the results were averaged out to determine a ranking of issues based on respondents’ levels of importance.
Overall, the most important issue for respondents was improving Arizona’s economy with an average respondent score of 9. That was followed closely by improving the state’s education system, protecting the U.S. from terrorism, reducing the national debt and providing more funding for wounded veterans.
Building a wall averaged a 4.7 among the polltakers. The other topics toward the bottom were allowing companies more freedom to drill for oil and gas, deporting Muslims possibly believed to be terrorists and requiring the registration of military-style assault weapons with police.
The poll also revealed that certain political parties care about a wider variety of issues than others.
Independents averaged a rating of 8 or higher on their priority scale in 12 topics, while Democrats had 11 and Republicans had 6.
The poll was conducted in both English and Spanish on both cellphone and landlines. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percent.
The Behavior Research Center said some of the responses were weighted to bring them in line with their demographic portion of the population.
