A new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released Thursday found that a candidate's views on Donald Trump will be the chief driver of votes this November.
When asked what will make the biggest difference in how they vote for Congress, larger shares of both Democratic and Republican voters say a candidate’s support for or opposition to President Trump will make the biggest difference than say the same about specific national issues or local or state issues.
But when it comes to issues, the difference between what is moving voters overall vs. what is moving voters in battleground states is fascinating. For instance, the economy is the No. 1 issue for most voters while gun policy was found to be the No. 1 issue for battleground voters, defined by Kaiser as "those living in states or congressional districts in which both parties have a viable path to win the election." In those areas, voters ranked gun policy first at 23 percent, with the economy and health care tied for second at 20 percent.
See the chart below.
Gun policy also yielded a notable result in the Virginia governor’s race last year, ranking as the No. 2 issue for voters (below health care at No. 1) with equal numbers of people on both sides of the aisle (49 percent) saying it was a motivating force for their vote.