For the second year, SurveyMonkey has teamed up with The 19th News to gather data on American politics, social and economic issues, and the experiences of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
The new poll, fielded among more than 20,000 adults in the U.S. from August 24-31, allows us to examine changes over time in opinions about America’s institutions:
- America is working well for more Americans than last year; while less than half (45%) of U.S. adults say America’s democracy is working well for them, that’s higher than the 40% who said the same in 2022. Similarly, 40% say America’s economic and financial system is working well for them, up from 36% in 2022.
When it comes to the intersection of politics and healthcare:
- Both abortion and gender-affirming care for adults have widespread support. A majority of Americans (63%) think abortion should be legal in all (30%) or most (33%) cases, and more than half (57%) favor the rights of transgender adults to access gender-affirming care, though significantly fewer (39%) support gender-affirming care for minors. Most think that politicians are not informed enough about abortion (70%) and gender-affirming care for minors (72%) to create fair policies.
- Americans would prefer that politicians either protect transgender people or not focus on transgender issues at all. Only 17% say politicians should focus on restricting gender-affirming care, while 44% say politicians should not focus on transgender issues, and 33% say they should focus on protecting trans people. Republicans in particular don’t want their politicians focusing on transgender issues; 58% say so, compared with 49% of Independents and 32% of Democrats.
On guns:
- Women and people of color are the most worried about gun violence in their communities. While the majority of Americans worry a lot (38%) or a little (33%) about gun violence in their community, 45% of women worry a lot, compared with 30% of men. And only 33% of white adults compared with 43% of Hispanic adults , 47% of Asian adults , and 54% of Black adults say they “worry a lot” about gun violence.
- Regardless of their political party, Americans support laws to prevent those convicted of violent crimes from purchasing guns. Republicans (84%) and Democrats (91%) report overwhelming and nearly equal levels of support for banning people convicted of violent crimes from purchasing a gun. Similarly, 81% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats support a federal law banning those convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a gun.
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
