The ADBC has talked to PEW Research Center on American public opinions toward central issues leading op to this year’s Presidential Election – and it seems that this election is perceived to be more important than ever in the eyes of the Americans.

PEW Research Center reports that 83% of votes perceive the outcome of this election to be of great importance. This number significantly outperforms previous years’ expectations as seen in figure 1 below.

When looking into what is important in the eyes of the voters there is a discrepancy between Republicans and Democrats. For the Republicans the most dominating issues are the economy and crime, while the Democrats prioritize the global pandemic and health care as most important (figure 2). The increase in political polarization has been a widespread issue for multiple years and it seems that this year’s election shows no change. When looking at how either side perceives their core views and values to be compatible with the other side, both Republicans and Democrats are distancing themselves from each other with only about one-in-five saying that they share the same set of fundamental core values (figure 3).

Yet despite disagreements on fundamental values, both Republicans and Democrats are increasingly concerned about the environment, although increases are largest on the Democratic side (Figure 4). The Americans are increasingly agreeing that climate change is a thread and while the means of which measures to use in addressing the issue are not necessarily matching or whether its caused by humans or not (22% of Republicans say yes, 72% of Democrats say yes), they increasingly agree that something needs to be done.