UPI Poll: Foreign policy top U.S. issue

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Foreign policy and the war in Iraq topped the list of issues facing the United States, participants in a UPI-Zogby International poll said.

Respondents were asked to select the two most important issues facing the country and, in another question, the world. The war in Iraq and U.S. foreign policy, as one issue, was named by 42.1 percent of those asked in the U.S. question; the Iraq war came in seventh among world issues.

As to the issues most important to the United States, after foreign policy, terrorism and security was mentioned by 32.7 percent of respondents. Immigration was third at 26.4 percent followed by healthcare (21.9 percent), jobs and the economy (13.2 percent) and the federal budget. Government spending and the deficit came in sixth at 10.6 percent.

As to what the 7,081 U.S. residents who were asked thought were the top global issues, Islamic radicalization was first at 47.7 percent, well ahead of global warming at 27.7 percent and the oil supply and energy at 22.9 percent.

Fourth on the world list was al-Qaida (18.2 percent) followed by the growing power of China (17.1 percent), the environment and pollution (16.4 percent) and the war in Iraq (16 percent).

Zogby conducted the interactive poll Sept. 7-10. There is a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points.