Most MA Residents Say Economy Is Top Pre-Election Issue: Survey

BOSTON — This year's state election is still eight months away, but enthusiasm is already high for Massachusetts voters, according to a survey of Patch readers conducted in the last few days.

Of the 888 who responded to the survey, nearly half said they were highly enthusiastic about voting in 2022, while nearly 70 percent of respondents said they were at least somewhat enthusiastic. Regardless of political affiliation, the No. 1 issue among Massachusetts voters was the economy, though the degree of importance varied widely depending on party affiliation.

"Give some help to [the] middle class," one respondent said. "Every time you hear help for lower classes, but nothing for the middle class. Let's help our own, especially the elderly. No one helps, they just take from the middle and elderly classes."

In the survey, 55.3 percent of respondents identified as independent, 28.8 percent as Democrats and 13.8 percent as Republicans. The other 2 percent said they were affiliated with a third party.

According to the survey, 85.2 percent of Republicans named the economy as their top issue, with the COVID-19 response coming in a distant second, at 5.7 percent.

Top Issues For Republicans

The economy was also the top issue for Democratic respondents, but other priorities were also said to be important.

The economy was the No. 1 issue for 33.1 percent of Democrats, with climate change at 25.8 percent; affordable housing at 14.6 percent; and the COVID-19 response at 11.2 percent.

Top Issues For Democrats

Among independents, 67.4 percent said the economy was their No. 1 issue, while climate change ranked second, at 11.5 percent, and the COVID-19 response ranked third, at 7 percent. Other issues given as options in the survey included the opioid crisis, education and police reform/racial justice.

Top Issues For Independents

About The Survey

The survey was meant not to be a scientific poll but was designed to give a broad idea of public sentiment. The survey was conducted between Friday and Monday.

The survey was conducted using ranked-choice voting, in which respondents chose which issues were of highest priority to them. Issues selected included the economy, climate change, the opioid crisis, affordable housing, the COVID-19 response (including vaccine and mask mandates), education and police reform/racial justice.

If someone's most important issue wasn't listed, a respondent had the option to select "other" and expand upon what was most important before the November election. Issues mentioned included transportation, term limits, voting rights, changes to landlord-tenant policy and more.

"Transportation, namely the obscene and inefficient traffic issues," one respondent said. "We must do more in our highway infrastructure to alleviate bottlenecks."

Another respondent said dealing with "predatory landlords" for commercial properties was the No. 1 issue: "Many of the business areas of communities around Boston are dying because businesses can't afford the rent, and the landlords just let the spaces remain empty."