Poll: Americans O.K. with Military, not Campaign Finance, Poverty

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Most Americans are satisfied with the state of the U.S. military, while issues like campaign finance, poverty and healthcare have sagged, a new survey found Monday.

The Gallup poll said two years into President Donald Trump's term, 78 percent of Americans are most satisfied with the nation's preparedness and strength, while 68 percent are are satisfied with the nation's security from terrorism. 

Issues that respondents were less satisfied with include campaign finance laws (20 percent), poverty and homelessness (25 percent), race relations (30 percent) and the availability of affordable healthcare (31 percent).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and other Democrats have made campaign finance and election reform a top priority for 2019.

Overall, only five issues garnered a majority of "very" or "somewhat" satisfied response -- military strength/readiness, security from terrorism, position of women in the economy and the acceptance of gays and lesbians in the nation.

From a partisan standpoint, there's a gap between Republicans and Democrats based on the responses. On gun laws, 70 percent of Republicans said they're satisfied, compared with 21 percent of Democrats -- a 49-point margin, which was the largest for any issue.

On the position minority status, Republicans said they're 70 percent satisfied while only 26 percent of Democrats answered that way. The gap is 30 points or higher on the state of the U.S. economy, the U.S. role in world affairs, energy policies and the role of women.

The survey also showed 45 percent of Democrats are satisfied with the level of immigration today, compared to 21 percent of Republicans.