Problem importance across time and space: updating the “Most Important Problem Dataset”

Figures & data

Table 1. Response Categories from the CBS/New York Times January 1982 Survey and MIPD Codes for Releases 1 and 2.

Survey Response Category	MIPD V1 Code	Survey Quasi-Response	MIPD V2 Code
Morality/drugs	Morals and values	Morality	Morals and values	901
		Drugs	Drugs	404
Inflation/cost of living/high prices	Inflation	Inflation	Inflation	103
		Cost of living	Inflation	103
		High prices	Inflation	103
Interest rates	Monetary Policy	Interest rates	Monetary Policy	104
Soviet Union, world peace, war	Foreign Policy	Soviet Union	Other Countries: Soviet Union	610:365
		World peace	War	605
		War	War	605
Other foreign policy	Foreign Policy	Other foreign policy	Foreign Policy	601
Unemployment, recession, not enough jobs	Unemployment	Unemployment	Employment	102
		Recession	Growth/Recession	105
		Not enough jobs	Employment	102
Economy	Economy	Economy	Economy	101
Energy	Energy Sources	Energy	Energy Sources	804
Other domestic/disabled people, poor, welfare, unions, crime	Social Policy	Domestic issues	Social Policy	201
		Disabled people	Specific Groups: Disabled	217:5
		Poor	Poverty	207
		Welfare	Welfare	202
		Unions	Industrial Policy: Unions	110:1
		Crime	Crime	401
Government/size, regulation/taxes/budget	Government	Government	Political Institutions: Government	1011:1
		Government size	Government Spending: Too Much	504:1
		Regulation	Government Regulation	107
		Taxes	Taxes	109
		Budget	Budget	501
Other/everything	Other	Other	Other	1301
		Everything	All	1302
Don’t know/not applicable	Don’t know	Don’t Know	Don’t Know	1501
		Not applicable	Not Applicable	1503

Figure 1. The Number of Response Categories by Survey over Time.

Table 2. Sample of MIPD Coding Scheme for Economy, and Social Policy General Categories.

Economy			Social Policy
Category	Sub-Category		Category	Sub-Category
Economy			Social policy
Employment			Welfare	Support
Inflation	Gas/energy			Oppose
	Food			Reform
	Housing		Education	Facilities
	Health care			Teachers
	Education			Quality
	Transportation			Funding (students)
Monetary policy				Funding (schools)
Growth/Recession				Reform
Domestic commerce	Financial services			Higher education
	Pro-business intervention		Health care	Affordable Care Act
	Business development			Medicare
	Business ethics			Medicare-for-All
	Small vs big business			Medicaid
	Stock market			Prescription drugs
Regulation			Retirement
Compensation	Minimum wage		Unem. insurance
Taxes	Level		Poverty
	Fairness		Inequality
	Reform		Classes
Industrial policy	Unions		Hunger
	Strikes		Housing
	Automation		Homelessness
			Transportation
			Infrastructure
			Child care
			Urban issues
			Specific groups	Refugees
				Elderly people
				Veterans
				Disabled people

Figure 2. Issues Related to Racism and Discrimination as the MIP across States.

Table 3. Determinants of Multiple Quasi-Responses and Mentions of Different General and Specific Quasi-Response Categories.

	Multiple	Different	Different
	quasi-responses	specific categories	general categories
Age	0.000369***	−0.000026	0.00018***
	(0.00003)	(0.00004)	(0.00004)
Male	−0.00012	−0.00405***	−0.00688***
	(0.0012)	(0.0015)	(0.00135)
Residence: Urban	−0.00458**	−0.00209	−0.0042***
	(0.00142)	(0.0018)	(0.00159)
Race: White	−0.00188	0.00876***	0.00768***
	(0.00177)	(0.0022)	(0.00201)
Formal education	−0.00288***	0.00359***	0.00335***
	(0.000763)	(0.00096)	(0.00085)
Income quartile	−0.00395***	−0.0018**	0.00217***
	(0.00061)	(0.00078)	(0.00069)
Partisan strength	−0.0014**	−0.00226**	−0.00090
	(0.0007)	(0.00089)	(0.00079)
Constant	0.482***	0.585***	−0.0269
	(0.0150)	(0.0196)	(0.0174)
Survey fixed-effects	Included	Included	Included
Observations	547,480	276,891	276,891
R^2	0.227	0.230	0.151

Note. Standard errors in parentheses. ^∗∗∗p < 0.01, ^∗∗p < 0.05, ^∗p < 0.1.

Table 4. Most Common and Disproportionate Categories for Each State

		Common			Disproportionate
	First	Second	Third	First	Second	Third
Alabama	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Domestic Violence	School Violence	Drugs
Alaska	Economy	Employment	War	Retirement	Culture	Child Care
Arizona	Economy	Employment	War	Immigration	Political Institutions	Corruption
Arkansas	Economy	Employment	War	Unemployment Insurance	Ideology	Church and State
California	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Pollution	Social Policy	Privacy Rights
Colorado	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Pollution	National Security	Trustworthiness
Connecticut	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Infrastructure	Public Health	School Violence
Delaware	Economy	Employment	Other Countries	Globalization	International Cooperation	Political Violence
Florida	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Privacy Rights	Economy	Health Care
Georgia	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Non-violent Participation	Privacy Rights	Religion
Hawaii	Economy	Employment	Other Countries	Infrastructure	Teen Pregnancy	Social Spending
Idaho	Economy	Employment	War	Abortion	Alcohol and Smoking	World Economy
Illinois	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Housing Policy	International Cooperation	Growth/Recession
Indiana	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Government Regulation	Youth Employment	Reproductive Rights
Iowa	Economy	War	Inflation	Agricultural Policy	War	Youth Employment
Kansas	Economy	War	Inflation	Alcohol and Smoking	Ideology	Globalization
Kentucky	Economy	Employment	War	Welfare	LGBTQ + Issues	Church and State Conflict
Louisiana	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Natural Disasters	Crime	Gangs
Maine	Economy	Employment	War	Unemployment Insurance	Energy Sources	Trade
Maryland	Economy	Inflation	Employment	Classes	Urban Issues	Alcohol and Smoking
Massachusetts	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Other Countries	Competence	Youth Employment
Michigan	Employment	Economy	Inflation	Employment	Law Enforcement	Trade
Minnesota	Economy	Employment	War	Freedom	Reproductive Rights	World Hunger
Mississippi	Economy	Inflation	Employment	Civil Rights	Racism/Discrimination	LGBTQ + Issues
Missouri	Economy	Employment	War	Domestic Violence	Welfare	Reproductive Rights
Montana	Economy	Employment	War	Child Abuse	International Cooperation	Political Process
Nebraska	Economy	Inflation	War	Taxes	Space Policy	Agricultural Policy
Nevada	Economy	Employment	War	Immigration	School Violence	Political Institutions
New Hampshire	Economy	Employment	War	Gender Rights	Economy	Inequality
New Jersey	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Privacy Rights	Housing Policy	Transportation
New Mexico	Economy	Employment	War	Other Economies	Domestic Violence	Political Actors
New York	Economy	Employment	War	Housing Policy	Urban Issues	Youth Crime
North Carolina	Economy	Employment	Inflation	LGBTQ + Issues	Religion	School Violence
North Dakota	Economy	War	Inflation	International Cooperation	Political Actors	Reproductive Rights
Ohio	Employment	Economy	Inflation	Employment	Privacy Rights	Transportation
Oklahoma	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Minorities	Alcohol and Smoking	Child Abuse
Oregon	Economy	Employment	War	Climate Change	Environment	Social Policy
Pennsylvania	Employment	Economy	Inflation	Employment	Specific Groups	Privacy Rights
Rhode Island	Economy	Employment	War	Freedom	Specific Groups	Nuclear Weapons
South Carolina	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Minorities	Social Spending	Morals/Values
South Dakota	War	Foreign Policy	Economy	Reproductive Rights	Agricultural Policy	Government Regulation
Tennessee	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Church and State	Religion	Morals/Values
Texas	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Immigration	Leadership	Child Abuse
Utah	Economy	Employment	War	Dishonesty	Family Values	Deficit
Vermont	Economy	War	Employment	Inequality	World Hunger	Climate Change
Virginia	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Economy	Globalization	National Security
Washington	Economy	Employment	Inflation	Privacy Rights	Competence	Environment
West Virginia	Employment	Economy	War	Employment	Growth/Recession	Defense Spending
Wisconsin	Economy	Employment	War	Privacy Rights	Taxes	Welfare
Wyoming	Economy	Foreign Policy	War	Political Actors (Foreign)	Freedom	Youth

Figure 3. Issues Related to Immigration as the MIP across States.