SEATTLE — Heading into the 2024 presidential elections, the top concerns of Democrats and Republicans in Washington couldn’t be more different, according to a new state poll.
A plurality of Washington Republicans will be thinking about a practical, “kitchen table” issue when voting this year: The high cost of living.
But when state Democrats fill out their ballots, their top concern will be something far more conceptual: Protecting democracy.
SurveyUSA interviewed 900 Washington state adults online from July 10 to 13, after the first presidential debate and before the attempted assassination of Trump, and identified 708 as likely voters in November’s general election.
Top issues for Washington voters
A poll of likely voters in Washington found the top issue this year for Republicans and Independents is the cost of living, while for Democrats, the top issue is protecting democracy.
The poll is sponsored by The Seattle Times, KING 5 and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Likely voters were asked to select their single top concern when voting this year from a list of nine issues.
Overall, the cost of living ranked No. 1, chosen by 25 percent of respondents. Cost of living was the top choice among Republicans at 33 percent, and independents, at 26 percent. A much smaller share of Democrats — 18 percent — selected cost of living as their primary concern.
This issue has been at the top of mind for many voters since the cost of goods and services surged in a period of high inflation from 2021 to 2022. The current annual rate of inflation nationally is 3 percent, way down from its high of 9.1 percent in June 2022. But it remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate for inflation, which is 2 percent.
The increase in the cost of living is a liability for Democrats in the November election, which is probably one reason why far more Washington Republicans than Democrats identified it as their top concern. Even so, the cost of living ranked second among Democrats.
I would have thought those with higher incomes might be less concerned about the cost of living than the less affluent. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a significant difference between income groups.
But for a plurality of Democrats, the cost of living takes a back seat to nothing less than saving our democracy itself. Twenty-eight percent of Washington Democrats selected “protecting democracy” as their top concern. Among Republicans, this was the choice of just 6 percent.
The “protecting democracy” choice is, of course, included in the survey because of messaging from the Democrats that reelecting Trump would pose an existential threat to our democracy. But there have been calls from Republicans to tone down this kind of rhetoric in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13.
Eighteen percent of independents identified protecting democracy as their top concern, ranking second. That parallels the overall results: Protecting democracy ranked second, the top issue for 18 percent of all respondents.
Abortion, a major issue for Democrats, and border security, a major issue for Republicans, tied for third place among all likely voters, each at 10 percent.
Access to abortion has been an urgent concern among many Democratic voters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, 2022. Among Washington Democrats, 14 percent selected abortion as their top issue when voting this year, compared with 9 percent of independents and 6 percent of Republicans. Of course, for many conservative voters, this concern would likely be restricting access to abortion rather than guaranteeing it.
Unsurprisingly, abortion was also the top issue for a higher share of women (14 percent) than men (6 percent).
Illegal immigration is a major issue among many on the right, and border security ranked second among state Republicans, and was the top issue for 25 percent. Only 2 percent of Democrats selected border security as their No. 1 concern, ranking last among the nine choices. Among independents, 9 percent chose this selection.
Reducing gun violence is a key issue for many on the left, and guns ranked third among Washington Democrats, chosen by 15 percent as their top issue when voting this year. Only 4 percent of Republicans and independents chose this as their top concern. And it’s likely Republicans who chose this answer were more concerned with protecting Second Amendment rights than establishing greater restrictions on access to guns.
Among state Republicans, crime ranked third, the top issue for 10 percent, compared with 5 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents. And among Washington independents, climate change ranked third, chosen by 12 percent, compared with 8 percent of Democrats and just 2 percent of Republicans.
Homelessness is an important issue in many parts of Washington, but perhaps most voters see it as a local rather than federal issue. It didn’t rank very high among the list of concerns, chosen by 8 percent of Republicans, 6 percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats.
One issue registered even less strongly with likely voters from any of the three major political affiliations in Washington: the conflict in Gaza. Among the nine choices, it ranked last for Republicans at 3 percent and independents at 4 percent, and was second from the bottom for Democrats, at 3 percent. Another poll question showed Biden’s response to the war in Gaza was swaying few voters of any party.
