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Writer's pictureCivicPulse Insights Team

What Do State Legislators See as the Most Pressing Issues?

Education, housing, and public health were listed as the most pressing issue areas for states by state legislators and legislative candidates. In a July 2024 survey, we asked incumbent state legislators and state legislative candidates to take a moment to list the most pressing problems in their states. CivicPulse researchers then reviewed, standardized, and recoded all responses into 21 categories.  


35% of responses included a reference to education, the most common category.  These included, but were not limited to, mentions of school choice, education quality, and book bannings in school libraries or curricula. Housing followed closely behind education with 29% of responses pointing to issues such as both the availability and affordability of housing. The third most mentioned category was public health (25%), which included topics like healthcare costs and medical freedom. 


Most pressing problems facing state according to incumbent state legislators and candidates 

Category 

Overall 

Overall Percentage 

Education 

244 

35% 

Housing 

197 

29% 

Public health 

170 

25% 

Cost of living 

140 

20% 

Energy & environment 

124 

18% 

Taxes 

120 

17% 

Political rights 

111 

16% 

Public safety 

100 

15% 

Economic growth 

92 

13% 

Politics & polarization 

84 

12% 

Institutional distrust 

82 

12% 

Poverty and homelessness 

62 

9% 

Infrastructure 

49 

7% 

Social services 

47 

7% 

Government spending 

40 

6% 

Immigration 

38 

6% 

Population change 

27 

4% 

Workforce 

27 

4% 

Other 

25 

4% 

Federal-state relations 

25 

4% 

Land use 

16 

2% 

This table shows the number and percentage of responses that fell into each category, with responses often having multiple categories. Data come from a national survey of 688 incumbent state legislators and state legislative candidates.  


A fifth (20%) of respondents mentioned issues related to the cost of living. 18% of respondents reported issues related to energy and environment, followed closely by taxation (17%), political rights (16%), and public safety (15%). 13% of respondents expressed concerns over economic growth, while 12% mentioned politics and polarization and institutional distrust, respectively. These were followed by responses related to poverty and homelessness (9%), infrastructure (7%), social services (7%), government spending (6%), immigration (6%), population change (4%), workforce (4%), federal-state relations (4%), and land use (2%).  

 

Survey Background 


This research brief builds upon data gathered from a national survey of 688 incumbent state legislators and state legislative candidates fielded in July 2024. 


Survey Text 


What do you think are the most pressing problems facing your state?  


Press Contact     


Victoria Starbuck

Senior Research and Communications Associate


Additional Resources 

For access to the underlying data for this brief, email us at info@civicpulse.org. 

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