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.