A recent YouGov survey explored how Democrats and Republicans felt about how much their party focuses on major issues. The survey was consisted of two online polls among  2,188 U.S. adult citizens, divided  into distinct, non-overlapping subgroups based gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration. It included a question about 22 issues Democrat and Republican respondents thought their parties to focused too little or too much. 

Here are the responses to this question. First, the percent of respondents who thought their party was focusing on certain issues too little:

Now, the percent of respondents who thought their party was focusing on certain issues too much:

It looks like Democrats want the Party to focus more on a lot more issues than Republicans – at least 30% say their Party is focusing too little on 13 issues (59% of 22 issues), compared to just 4 issues for Republicans (18%). And Republicans want the Party to focus less on more issues than Democrats – at least 10% say their Party is focusing too much on 8 issues (36% of 22), compared to just 4 issues for Democrats (18%). This pattern is also clear from looking at responses averaged across all 22 issues:  

So, what’s up with these partisan differences? Hard to say without more information. But I can always speculate! Here goes:  

  • More Democrats care a lot more about more issues than Republicans.

  • More Democrats are passionate about the same issues.

  • Republicans may be passionate about some issues, but these issues are less likely to be the same across Party members.

  • In other words, Democrats are more likely to be on the same page than Republicans.

  • In other words, there’s more diversity of opinion among Republicans.

  • Democrats want a strong central government that targets a broad range of problems.

  • Republicans want smaller government and more local control.

  • Republicans are more likely to look to commerce, community, family and church to address societal ills, less so to government.

  • Political parties seek to influence government. If you want more from your government, you’ll want more from your party.

Source: The issues that Democrats and Republicans want their parties to focus on more. Jamie Ballard / YouGov 1/27/2026

Note: Data from YouGov; charts are my own.