America’s Top Concerns

Last updated on: September 15, 2010 at 12:21 pm by Scot McKnight

America’s Top Concerns 2010-09-15T06:26:57-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The newest Barna study asked Americans about what concerned them most and what they would like our national leaders to focus on.

The national survey among 1,000 randomly chosen adults found that more than 40 different national issues were listed by a significant number of people as matters that they consider to be the most important for the nation’s leaders to address. Those issues related to dimensions such as strengthening the nation’s economy, environmental protection, morality, health care, national security, education, international relations, lifestyle, government corruption, constitutional rights, oil dependency, and the role of government.

The population groups among whom the greatest diversity of issues were expressed included adults in their mid-20s to mid-40s; residents of the western states; upscale adults; born again Christians; adults aligned with non-Christian faiths; and spiritual Skeptics.

Top Concerns
Far and away the most common concerns mentioned related to economic issues. Almost all of the adults interviewed (98%) listed at least one issue pertaining to the economy, including job creation, unemployment, financial hardship, national debt, the recession, and taxes. The top-ranked economic issue related to jobs – either creating them or assisting people who lack one.

The only other issues mentioned by at least one out of every ten adults were health care matters (25%) and issues regarding national security – i.e., either defense against terrorism or the nation’s role in the wars in which the country is presently engaged (24%).

More modest levels of concern were registered in relation to immigration and border control (named by 9%), matters of morality (7%), environmental protection (4%), and educational reform (4%)……..

Evangelical Christians emerged as a segment that has a distinct set of issues on its mind. Although evangelicals constitute just 7% of the adult public, they were twice as likely as the nation at-large to list government corruption, national security and the reduction of taxes as significant issues. They were only half as likely as others to include education on their list of primary concerns.

Other faith segments also displayed tendencies that strayed from the national norm. For instance, adults associated with non-Christian faiths were more likely to include global poverty and government corruption on their list, but much less likely to include environmental protection, national security, education, and the wars.

Protestants and Catholics differed noticeably. Protestants were more likely to list government corruption, national security and government spending. Catholics were more likely to include issues related to the recession and national economy……

An outcome of this study that is consistent with past results is that evangelical Christians seem less interested in matters of justice and service than might be expected. On matters such as global poverty, educational reform, environmental care, and health care, evangelicals’ concern about these issues is average or below average. The current survey also provided a surprising departure from the past answers provided by evangelicals: moral values and behavior, traditionally a matter of considerable concern to evangelicals, was rarely mentioned. That does not mean that evangelicals have no interest in the nation’s moral conditions; anxiety about government corruption generated an above-average level of concern among evangelicals, and there are certainly moral elements to the conduct of the wars, national security and related to economic issues. However, within the context of all the issues facing the nation, it seems that few evangelicals consider the moral state of the nation to be a specific issue they want to see political leaders focus upon more heavily.

Remember that Barna has a specific profile for “born again” and “Evangelical.”

“Born again Christians” are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents are not asked to describe themselves as “born again.”

“Evangelicals” meet the born again criteria (described above) plus seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “evangelical.”

Public Issues

Barna

Previous Post

September 15, 2010

Evolution and Natural Theology

Next Post

September 16, 2010 What Do You Mean By Literal? (RJS)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the first plague in Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Water turned to blood Locusts Darkness Boils