Americans Give GOP Slim Edge to Ensure Security, Prosperity.
Byline: Jeffrey M. Jones
Synopsis: Slightly more Americans say the Republican Party is better than the Democratic Party at keeping the country both secure and prosperous.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are slightly more inclined to believe the Republican Party would do a better job than the Democratic Party at both keeping the U.S. secure from external threats, and keeping the country prosperous. The GOP holds a six-percentage-point advantage on security, 47% to 41%, and a five-point edge on prosperity, 47% to 42%. At the same time, Americans are evenly split as to which party would better handle the "most important problem" facing the country.
The results are based on questions asked in Gallup's Sept. 4-12 Governance poll designed to assess the images of the two major political parties. Overall, Americans give the parties similar favorable ratings. On issues, the public is divided as to which party can handle the most important problem, most commonly "the government" with "immigration" a distant second in in the current survey. Asked more specifically which party is better able to keep the country safe from external threats and able to keep the country prosperous, Republicans hold a slight edge on both.
Thus, on both party images and perceptions of party issue competence, the parties are either divided, or the GOP has a slight advantage. On these dimensions, then, neither party holds a significantly stronger position than the other with the midterm elections taking place in less than two months.
Americans typically view the Republican Party as better than the Democratic Party at protecting the country from international terrorism and military threats. Since the question was first asked in 2002, there have been only three years when Republicans did not hold a meaningful edge on the security issue -- 2006 and 2007 during the Iraq War and in a 2012 poll conducted in the days after the Democratic National Convention.
However, the current six-point edge for Republicans is less than the historical average of nine points (48% to 39%). The advantage in favor of the GOP has been as high as 23 points in 2014 when the Islamic State was increasing its terrorist activity in Iraq.
Americans' perception of the party better to keep the country prosperous has shifted over the past 17 years, with the Democratic Party holding at least a slight edge for most of George W. Bush's years in office, and the Republican Party tending to have a narrow advantage since...
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