TRENTON -- A new poll shows the top concern for American families today is paying for health care -- far outpacing immigration and terrorism, two issues that have recently risen to the forefront in the early days of Donald Trump's presidency.
The Monmouth University Poll, released Tuesday, found 1-in-4 U.S. residents (25 percent), say the cost of health care is the biggest issue facing their family.
Two years ago, the same survey found 15 percent of Americans named health care as their primary concern -- about the same as those who cited job security and paying bills at the top.
"The top three concerns were clustered together just two years ago," said Patrick Murray, the poll's director. "Now, health care has jumped to the top of the list as Americans grapple with balancing their household budgets."
"It's also worth noting that issues that have been dominating the news, such as immigration and national security, rank very low on the list of items that keep Americans up at night," Murray shows.
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The rising concern over health care coincides with plans from Trump, a Republican, and GOP members of Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. On Tuesday, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said legislation to repeal and replace the law would be completed this year.
Comparatively, the poll shows:
* 14 percent named job and unemployment worries as the leading concern, while 12 percent said paying everyday household bills.
* College/school costs and taxes were both named by 4 percent, while a number of issues were cited by 3 percent: Social Security, family illness and health, the economy, safety and crime, immigration, and civil rights.
* 2 percent named terrorism/ national security and retirement savings. Both immigration and terrorism despite Trump's recent executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration and temporarily ban travel from seven Muslim-majority nations to protect against possible terrorist attacks.
* Four issues were named by 1 percent: quality of government, education policy, Trump as president, and climate change and the environment.
The poll also found that 51 percent of Americans say their financial situation is stable, while 29 percent say their are struggling, and 20 percent sad their financial circumstances are improving.
The survey shows most Americans describe themselves as middle class (40 percent) or working class (30 percent), while 16 percent say upper middle class or better off and 13 percent say they are poor.
The poll was conducted via phone from Jan. 12-15 with 801 adults living in the U.S. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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