Americans Don't See Economy as a Nation's Most Important Problem

Americans Don't See Economy as a Nation's Most Important Problem

Timothy Taylor 22/01/2020 2

The Gallup Poll regularly asks about what people see as America's most important problem. 

The share of people mentioning economic issues has been plummeting, from as high as 86% back in the Great Recession of 2009, down to 11-12% at present--the lowest level of concern over economic issues in the 21st century.

This decline started during President Obama's second term, but has continued during the first three years of President Trump.

Of course, the real-world economy will always have issues and problems.

But given that the previous recession ended more than a decade ago in June 2009 and the unemployment rate has been 4% or lower since March 2018, it makes perfect sense that economic issues should not be at the top of the current worry list.

A version of this article first appeared on Conversable Economist

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  • Mike Schiller

    Public education is among the main priorities.

  • David Clegg

    Despite the criticism, President Trump is doing a tremendous job so far.

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Timothy Taylor

Global Economy Expert

Timothy Taylor is an American economist. He is managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, a quarterly academic journal produced at Macalester College and published by the American Economic Association. Taylor received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College and a master's degree in economics from Stanford University. At Stanford, he was winner of the award for excellent teaching in a large class (more than 30 students) given by the Associated Students of Stanford University. At Minnesota, he was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Department of Economics and voted Teacher of the Year by the master's degree students at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Taylor has been a guest speaker for groups of teachers of high school economics, visiting diplomats from eastern Europe, talk-radio shows, and community groups. From 1989 to 1997, Professor Taylor wrote an economics opinion column for the San Jose Mercury-News. He has published multiple lectures on economics through The Teaching Company. With Rudolph Penner and Isabel Sawhill, he is co-author of Updating America's Social Contract (2000), whose first chapter provided an early radical centrist perspective, "An Agenda for the Radical Middle". Taylor is also the author of The Instant Economist: Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works, published by the Penguin Group in 2012. The fourth edition of Taylor's Principles of Economics textbook was published by Textbook Media in 2017.

   
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