Education, health care, Medicare and Social Security have consistently been voters' top mentions as the problems they'd most like to see the government tackle. Currently, education is at the top of this pile, with 14 percent of voters citing it as their number one concern. This spells good news for Gore, as he enjoys traditional Democratic advantages on social issues, specifically health care and prescription drugs. And while Gore has an advantage over Bush on keeping the economy strong, the parties are at parity on this issue. Republicans lead the Democrats on the issues of taxes and defense.
Most voters view America's public schools as good, despite their concern over education.
Sixty-three percent of voters rate schools in this country as good, while 33 percent rate public schools as bad. And while education comes up as the top issue of concern to voters, they do not think the federal government has all the answers. Seventy-four percent of voters think improving the schools is a state and local issue, and only 17 percent think it's a federal one. Perhaps because of their positive opinions of public schools, voters are divided over whether parents should have the option of using public money to send their children to private schools. Forty-five percent agree that parents should have this choice, but 50 percent think they should not.