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Most in poll are frustrated over presidential race

 
Elizabeth Bartz of Akron, Ohio, takes a selfie with her father Jim Bartz before the presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Monday.
Elizabeth Bartz of Akron, Ohio, takes a selfie with her father Jim Bartz before the presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Monday.
Published Sept. 27, 2016

WASHINGTON — Carol Jones knew what she wanted to hear Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump discuss during their first televised debate: education and jobs. She was far from sure which candidate would earn her vote on Election Day.

"All we see is the cat fighting," said the retired substitute teacher in Shirley, Ark. At Monday's debate, the 70-year-old said, "they need to talk about their programs … but I don't think they will."

A majority of Americans, like Jones, say they're frustrated, angry — or both — with the 2016 presidential election, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Most Americans aren't feeling proud or hopeful about the race, and half feel helpless, the results find. Majorities of Americans want more focus on issues that are important to them, starting with health care, Social Security, education, terrorism and homeland security.

Apathy isn't the problem, the survey found. Eighty-six percent of Americans are paying at least some attention to the race.

The campaign is certainly hard to miss. Trump and Clinton are the two least popular presidential candidates in history, and their ferocious battle is smashing precedents and dominating public discourse.

Trump has built his campaign in large part on attention-getting —and frequently untrue — accusations, such as that his opponent "is the devil" and President Barack Obama "founded" the Islamic State group. But he has found success linking the nation's immigration woes to its national security concerns, the latter of which is rated by Americans as among the top issues facing the country.

Clinton is a former senator and secretary of state who is an avowed foreign and domestic policy wonk. She has tried to make the election, in part, a referendum on Trump's fitness for office. Her recent stumble during an abrupt exit from this year's 9/11 memorial ceremony, captured on video, added to the reality-show quality of the election. Her campaign disclosed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

The survey found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say the campaign focuses too little on the issues that matter to them personally. More than six in 10 Americans of both parties agree. A bit more than half say there's been too little focus on the candidates' qualifications, with Democrats being more likely than Republicans to feel that way, 61 percent to 45 percent. And more than half of Americans in the survey said the campaign is focused too much on the personal characteristics of the candidates, with Republicans and Democrats about equally likely to feel that way.

The issues Americans care most about? Health care comes in first, with 81 percent listing that as very or extremely important, while similarly high percentages said the same about Social Security, education, terrorism and homeland security. The next most-cited issues: crime and economic growth, which three-quarters of respondents listed as at least very important. Similar majorities cited poverty and taxes. Ranking lower, according to the findings: immigration, with just 61 percent listing the issue as very or extremely important to them.

There's bipartisan agreement on the importance of some issues. Nearly identical percentages of Democrats and Republicans call crime and unemployment top issues. At least three-quarters from both parties call Social Security very important.

On many other issues, their priorities diverge: Democrats are particularly likely to call health care and poverty top issues, while Republicans are particularly likely to rank terrorism, taxes, debt and foreign policy as very important. About seven in 10 Democrats but less than half of Republicans named as top issues call gun control and income inequality. Three-quarters of Democrats, but only about a third of Republicans, say the same about racism, the environment and climate change.

Republicans are far more likely to name international trade agreements as a very or extremely important issue. And seven in 10 Republicans, but only about half of Democrats, call immigration a top priority. Among Americans with a favorable opinion of Trump, nearly eight in 10 say so.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,022 adults was conducted Sept. 15-18. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.