What Americans Worry About.

• Position: Survey - Brief Article

Next year's Presidential candidates face a tricky problem: the lack of any single issue that large groups of voters care about. Three happy trends--continuing prosperity, low unemployment, and falling crime rates--have made old concerns such as inflation and the threat of war seem less important.

In the surveys depicted at left, people were asked, "What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?" Judging by the survey, candidates hoping to win votes because of their stands on important issues will have to work hard to find those issues.

1999 18%...