Congressional Priorities

Is Congress working on what Americans actually care about?

Overall Alignment
23
/ 100
Significantly misaligned
Democrat
13
/ 100
-10 vs overall
Republican
26
/ 100
+3 vs overall

Based on polls from Dec 19, 2025 to May 4, 2026. Last computed May 4, 2026.

Priority Gap: What the Public Wants vs. What Congress Does

Positive gap = public cares more than Congress legislates (under-addressed). Negative gap = Congress legislates more than public demands (over-addressed).

Issue-by-Issue Breakdown
Issue Public Congress Gap Status
Unifying the country 0.9% 19.6% -18.7% Significantly Over-addressed
War 1.5% 14.7% -13.2% Significantly Over-addressed
Government/Leadership 6.5% 19.6% -13.1% Significantly Over-addressed
National Security 2.1% 14.7% -12.6% Significantly Over-addressed
National Debt/Deficit 13.2% 2.9% +10.3% Significantly Under-addressed
Ethics/Moral Decline 0.7% 11.4% -10.7% Significantly Over-addressed
International Issues 0.2% 9.9% -9.7% Over-addressed
Foreign Policy 0.2% 9.9% -9.7% Over-addressed
Judicial System 0.7% 7.0% -6.3% Over-addressed
Inflation/Cost of Living 8.5% 2.9% +5.6% Under-addressed
Social Issues 11.6% 5.3% +6.2% Under-addressed
Immigration 4.7% 1.0% +3.7% Under-addressed
Technology 0.2% 4.1% -3.9% Over-addressed
Jobs/Unemployment 5.2% 1.2% +4.0% Under-addressed
Social Security/Medicare 1.2% 6.0% -4.9% Over-addressed
Crime/Violence 2.1% 5.6% -3.5% Over-addressed
The Media 0.2% 4.1% -3.9% Over-addressed
Poverty/Homelessness 4.6% 0.7% +3.9% Under-addressed
Environment/Climate 1.9% 4.4% -2.4% Aligned
Race Relations 0.6% 2.2% -1.6% Aligned
Taxes 4.4% 6.8% -2.4% Aligned
Education 0.5% 1.2% -0.8% Aligned
Drugs 11.8% 11.1% +0.7% Aligned
Healthcare 6.7% 5.6% +1.1% Aligned
Economy 9.6% 10.4% -0.8% Aligned
Children’s Needs 0.2% 0.0% +0.2% Aligned
Methodology

Public priorities are averaged across verified polls and normalized to 100% (since poll respondents name multiple issues). Legislative activity is weighted by bill progress (introduced = 1, enacted = 10). The alignment score measures how closely Congress's effort distribution matches the relative importance the public assigns to each issue.

This is directional analysis, not a scientific study. See the full methodology for details on status weights, topic mappings, and limitations.