SALT LAKE CITY (March 11, 2024) – Heading into the 2024 elections, most likely voters in Utah view housing affordability, education funding and taxes as most important to their vote, a new survey from Sutherland Institute and Y2 Analytics shows. By contrast, controversial issues like tech regulation and DEI are least important to how Utahns will vote. 

Likely voters in Utah were asked to review a list of nine issues taken up by the Legislature and rank them in order of most important to least important with respect to how those issues will impact their vote this election year.

Respondents’ rankings were averaged, and three tiers of issues stood out based on priority: 

• Top-tier: housing affordability, education funding, and taxes
• Mid-tier: Great Salt Lake preservation, cost of raising children, curriculum transparency, and election processes
• Bottom-tier: tech regulation and DEI in higher education

Republicans prioritize curriculum transparency and taxes higher than Democrats do, while Democrats view DEI in higher education and the Great Salt Lake as more important than Republicans view them. 

Younger voters view cost of raising children as a higher priority than older voters, while the latter demographic places more importance on election processes and tech regulation. 

Single, divorced and cohabiting voters and voters between 18-34 and 45-54 see housing affordability as distinctly more important than any other issue. 

The findings are highlighted in Sutherland’s newest issue brief, available here:

​Sutherland Institute partners with Y2 Analytics to regularly survey likely voters in Utah about important public policy and political issues. This new issue brief measures the attitudes and priorities of likely voters toward a variety of issues leading up to the 2024 elections.