The USA Today/Gallup poll found three of four Americans said family values are an important factor, with more than a third saying they are "extremely" important. By family values, those surveyed said they meant family unit, family structure or strong families, the Gallup organization said in a news release.

The Nov. 2-4 survey of 1,024 adults found 86 percent of Republicans rated family values extremely or very important, compared to 72 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents.

The gender gap on this topic is not that wide either, with 79 percent of women giving family values a high priority, compared with 70 percent of men.