UW survey finds inflation, gun violence and health care top issues for Wisconsin residents

The Main Street Agenda is a project designed to focus on the issues Wisconsinites rank as most important heading into the 2024 election. The topics come from a survey of nearly 4,000 residents conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey Center in partnership with the La Follette School of Public Affairs.

Throughout the year, experts at La Follette will be writing op-eds about the topics in the Journal Sentinel. This fall, there will be a series of town halls across Wisconsin where voters can have small group discussions and learn more and ask questions about the issues they care most about.

The "WisconSays/La Follette Survey" asked participants to rate 11 topics based on how much of a problem they are, on a scale of "not a problem" to an "extremely big problem." The six highest rated issues amongst the participants are:

Inflation

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with other factors such as the Russian-Ukrainian war, caused inflation rates to skyrocket in 2020. From 2020 to 2021, inflation rates rose from 1.4% to 7%. Currently, the national inflation rate is 3.5%, which is higher than the Federal Reserve policymakers target inflation rate of 2%.

Grocery bills drive views on economy. Inflation will influence how people will vote this fall.

In the WisconSays survey, 63% of participants rated inflation as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem,” in Wisconsin, and 70% of participants rated it "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem" in the U.S., making it the highest rated problem.

Survey participants' age and income affected how they rated inflation, with younger and less wealthy people rating it higher than others. Affordable housing has been particularly hard for young and low-income people to have access to amongst this rise in inflation.

Gun violence

Gun violence was the second highest rated issue, with 59% of participants rating it as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem” in Wisconsin and 77% of participants rating it as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem” in the U.S.

We don’t know how the participants define gun violence, with the term possibly having different meanings for different people. While many associate gun violence with interpersonal violence, where one person inflicts harm onto another, the number one type of gun violence happening in Wisconsin is suicide, with 71% of gun deaths in the state being death by suicide.

Firearm deaths: Deadly domestic abuse cases show why gun violence is a top concern in Wisconsin

The WisconSays results show that those in rural communities rated gun violence 16% lower as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem” as those in urban areas, which is interesting being that nine of the 10 counties in Wisconsin with the highest gun death rates are rural.  Participants across political parties rated the issue similarly, with 62% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans and 57% of independents viewing gun violence as "quite a problem" or an "extremely big problem" in Wisconsin.

Health care

Many Wisconsinites struggle with access to health care and being able to afford those services. That is why 69% of participants rated health care as "quite a problem" or an "extremely big problem" in the U.S., and 54% of participants rated it as ""quite a problem" or an "extremely big problem" in Wisconsin.

There are many reasons for this, including lack of hospitals, providers and funding, as well as increasing costs for patients. Health care is an issue across the state, but it hits rural communities particularly hard, with hospitals either struggling to provide services or simply closing down. Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls closed April 21, and all Prevea locations across the Chippewa Valley are closing by June 30. Many factors make it harder for rural hospitals to stay open, including not having Medicaid expansion, populations in rural areas needing more care and workforce shortages.

Crime

Some 52% of the WisconSays participants rated crime as "quite a problem" or an "extremely big problem" in Wisconsin, and 70% rated it as "quite a problem" or an "extremely big problem" in the United States. Crime is a nuanced issue, having many factors that can lead to high crime rates among communities.

Survey participants with less money rated the issue of crime higher, with those who describe themselves as financially “much worse off” rating it 17% higher as an issue than those financially “much better off." Nationally, crime affects low-income communities disproportionately.

Many factors lead to crime taking place in low-income communities, including a lack of resources, high stress due to financial struggles and fewer education and employment opportunities. Many of these low-income communities are communities of color due to redlining and systemic racism.

Climate Change

About 50% of WisconSays survey participants rated climate change as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big problem” in Wisconsin, and 61% rated it as "quite a problem" or an “extremely big issue” in the U.S.

How much money you have may also impact your experience with climate change. The survey revealed that those who did not have $400 to pay an unexpected expense, were struggling with bills and were food insecure rated climate change as less of a problem then those not experiencing those hardships.

However, the data also found that those who were making $30,000 or less were more likely to rate climate change as an "extremely big problem." Climate change disproportionately affects low income people, often compromising their working conditions, which may be in extreme heat, with poor air quality and other harmful effects of climate change.

Distribution of income and wealth

Similarly to climate change, 50% of participants in the survey consider the distribution of income and wealth "quite a problem" or an “extremely big issue” in Wisconsin, and 67% believe it’s "quite a problem" or an “extremely big issue” in the U.S.

Daycare. Diapers. Dilemmas about paying bills or buying food. Parents struggle.

The WisconSays survey revealed that those of varying incomes rated the issue fairly similarly, agreeing that the distribution of wealth and income is a big problem. Those in urban and rural communities also rated the issue similarly, even though wealth inequality affects urban and rural communities differently.

Zoe Takaki is an intern for the Ideas Lab. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago, where she studied journalism.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In Wisconsin, health care, climate change, crime are top concerns