Americans appear ho-hum on the issue of gun control, according to a
new Gallup poll in which the concern ranks a lowly 19th out of the nation's 23 most pressing problems.
The finding comes as President Barack Obama is poised on Monday to reveal new executive actions he will enact in response to gun violence.
Ahead of "gun/gun violence" were such issues as: Congress, the economy, unemployment, immigration, terrorism, race relations, the federal budget deficit, healthcare, poverty and education.
According to Gallup, just one percent of those polled cited "guns/gun control" as a concern for most of 2015. The number rose to 7 percent in October and December following two mass shootings.
Still, for the second consecutive year, dissatisfaction with government beat the economy as the problem more Americans identified as the nation's top problem in 2015, according to Gallup.
An average of 16 percent of Americans mentioned some aspect of government, including the president, Congress or political conflict, as the country's chief problem.
The economy came in second, while unemployment and immigration tied for third at 8 percent.
"Americans were most likely to mention some aspect of the federal government in 2015 when asked to name the country's top problem, but this category still averaged less than 20 percent of all responses during the year. Even when mentions of terrorism, immigration and gun laws briefly flared, the percentages citing these stayed below the 20 percent threshold," Gallup said.
"This lack of a prominent public concern provides an interesting setup to the 2016 presidential election. Some Americans remain most worried about the economy; others are mainly concerned about immigration, and others are divided across a host of domestic policy concerns."
"This contrasts with the last three presidential election cycles when at least one issue commanded significant public attention in the year prior to the election."
Gallup said that in 2011, the dominant issues were the economy and unemployment. In 2007, it was the Iraq War. And in 2003, the economy was the dominant issue.
"Those concerns provided a clear framework for the campaigns, something that is thus far lacking in the race for 2016," Gallup said.
The poll was conducted among a total sample of approximately 12,000 adults nationwide with a margin of sampling error of ±1 percentage point at the 95 percent confidence level.
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