Republicans Close The Gap With Democrats on Several Key Issues

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows U.S. voters trust the Democratic Party over Republicans on the top issue of the economy by just a three-point margin this month, 45% to 42%.

It is still too early to determine whether voters are trending away from the economic initiatives of President Obama and congressional Democrats, but this is the closest the two parties have been on the issue of the economy since the first week of last September. In March, voters trusted the Democrats more by a 47% to 40% margin.

For the third straight month, investors trust the GOP more to handle the economy, 48% to 42%, but non-investors still trust Democrats more by 16 points.

Republicans now have moved further ahead of Democrats on the issues of national security and taxes. The GOP also has come on strong on several other issues, including immigration and Social Security.

Republicans hold an eight-point lead on national security, up from six-points last month, representing their biggest lead since early January. New Rasmussen polling shows that confidence in the War on Terror has rebounded slightly this month.

On taxes, voters trust Republicans more by a 45% to 39% margin. Over the past two months, the GOP held three-point leads on the issue.

Separate polling released last week shows the number of voters who believe they pay more than their fair share of taxes has hit a new recent low. However, a Rasmussen video report shows 62% of voters think the middle class pays a higher portion of their income in taxes than the wealthy.

Just as the president announced his plans to push immigration reform last week, Republicans moved ahead on the topic of immigration, leading the Democrats in voter trust by a 41% to 36% margin. In March, Democrats held a two-point lead on the issue.

The parties are now tied on the issue of Social Security, a topic the Democrats held solid leads on for several years of tracking. Now, each party earns trust from 41% of voters. In March, Democrats led 44% to 39% on the issue.

Democrats came in ahead of the GOP on the War in Iraq by a 44% to 42% margin. The Democrats have held one- to four-point leads on the issue since November.

While the Democrats continue to hold strong leads on health care and education, their advantage on government ethics and corruption has slipped this month. The Democrats now lead Republicans by just three percentage points on the issue, compared to a 10-point lead last month.

The GOP has moved ahead on the issue of abortion, 42% to 39%, after trailing by two points a month ago.

Republicans pulled within one point of Democrats last week in the Generic Congressional Ballot. Three weeks ago, Republicans took a two-point lead over Democrats, their first in several years, but that quickly reversed the following week.