Poll: Healthcare Most Important Issue for Americans

Healthcare is the top concern of Americans, a new Gallup poll reveals.

According to the nationwide poll of 1,041 adults conducted March 1-8:

• 55 percent of Americans worry "a great deal" about the availability and affordability of healthcare.
• 51 percent say crime and violence are their top concerns.

Also of concern are federal spending and the budget deficit, the availability of guns, drug use, hunger and homelessness and the Social Security system.

"Healthcare has been a common concern for Americans, with the percentage worrying a great deal about it eclipsing most other issues over the past two decades," Gallup senior editor Jeffrey Jones writes.

"Passage of the Affordable Care Act did little to ease anxiety about the issue — and with President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress taking steps to undo key provisions of the law, Americans' anxiety about the healthcare situation should persist."

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