How Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Their Intersections Shape Americans’ Issue Priorities

Abstract

Gender, race, and ethnicity shape the direction of Americans’ policy preferences. Do these traits also affect which issues Americans prioritize? I use open-ended responses about the most important problems facing the country to identify Americans’ policy priorities. I reveal that gender, ethnorace, and their intersections determine which issues Americans view as most important. Women are more likely than men to prioritize problems related to poverty and caregiving, but the specific issues women prioritize are also shaped by their ethnoracial identities. Many “women’s issues” might more accurately be described as Black, Hispanic, or white women’s issue priorities. Additionally, relative to Black and Hispanic men and women, white men and women are particularly unlikely to prioritize problems related to racism and discord, criminal justice, and immigration. On these issues, ethnorace drives prioritization largely unaffected by gender.