People seem divided on political priorities

There is a new poll by Gallup from which I have taken the following table:

Large numbers of jobs should be created in the next year or two. The federal budget deficit is a long term problem, one that will be solved by economic growth, decreasing federal expenditure, increasing tax rates and closing tax loopholes, and possibly selling off some government owned property. The fiscal and monetary policies that will create jobs in the next few years are likely to contribute to the long term solution of the problem of the federal government's debt.

Why do so many people on both sides of the political divide think government corruption is a problem? Why don't they see the unregulated banks and financial industries as a bigger problem. My experience in government over a couple of decades didn't uncover any corruption.

Terrorism? There were nearly 15,000 homicides in the United States in 2010. There were nearly 33,000 motor vehicle traffic fatalities that year. Of course, we want the federal government to work to limit international threats, but put them into proportion.

You can't legislate to make people behave morally. The president has little power to improve moral standards.

On the other hand, the government can make a significant difference in human capital development. We need a healthy, well educated population. Of course the more affluent portion of our population have good health care and generally get good educations. I personally don't want to see our society keep leaving large minorities poorly educated and unable to afford health care. However, others may find it more convincing to point out that unless we have high levels of productive employment, the economy will not be in good shape.

It is too bad that we will not enjoy a serious effort by the presidential candidates and political parties to debate the priorities for the nation and the best ways for the government to move toward satisfaction of the priority needs before the November election. It will be hard to come together on policy if people are so divided on priorities.