Abortion
Gay marriage
Gun control
Budget/spending
Immigration
Separation of church and state
Taxation
War on drugs
Death penalty
Other
“The people do not want virtue; but they are the dupes of pretended patriots” : Elbridge Gerry of Mass; Constitutional Convention 1787
Whatever furores may be precipitated by discussion of abortion, gun control and the death penalty, they're perhaps more specific to contemporary American discourse. They lack something of the global impact that the other options entail.
Eventually ssm and abortion will not be as big issues due to younger generations taking office. I think government intervention in the economy will be an issue that is never resolved. Supply/demand side economics debate has been going on since the depression.
Not exclusively on guns, many liberals and democrats own guns and support the second amendment although it's undisputed republicans support gun rights more.
On the abortion issue it's mainly liberals supporting abortion rights who trot out the "rights" issue. Usually citing roe or the 9th amendment. Abortion is a more partisan issue because conservatives are uniformly opposed to most abortion, liberals Are uniformly for near unrestricted abortion, and moderates usually fall in the middle
Guns are a more divisive issue by number of camps. But it's not a black and white liberal v conservative issue. Bernie sanders voted against the Brady bill, a Wash state rep named Kevin Van De Wege, a democrat representing some of the most liberal counties in Washington (Jefferson and parts of Grays Harbor) is a staunch gun rights supporter...
So I would say yes to your question for abortion, a qualified "kinda sorta" for guns
"Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world." - Antonin Scalia
Economy, I think. Or as the poll states it "Budget/spending".
Everything else is somewhat secondary, and changes with time. But the monetary issue has been ongoing for decades.
Education.
Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
Abortion rules the poll!!!!!?????
Look at the threads that discuss gay right in any fashion, they run 2-300 pages. They can advance 50 pages in a single day. That's not just on the DP board by the way. Presidential candidates have the balls (because they have sufficient American backing) to take discriminating positions against the LGBT community on the (supposed) merits, that the Christians are being persecuted and forced against their belief structure. But when your belief structure has a bigoted element........! Anyway, people will line up behind and vote for a presidential candidate, sometimes on the singular issue of abortion because a guy is "pro-life", despite the fact that no "pro-life" president since RvW has reduced abortion any.
Killing one person is murder, killing 100,000 is foreign policy
The economy. Which takes in Budget/spending, labor laws, environment, schools and Taxation also.
We need a down and dirty look at the economy and roll-back what is causing all the outsourcing and importing of foreign labor. What laws/regulations are hurting us? We keep seeing that unemployment is supposedly down, but are those real career jobs, people who simply gave up and don't get counted anymore or people taking minimum wage jobs? If the economy "grew" at 3% for a year and we added 5% more people to the workforce and basic needs such as food rose at 6% inflation, is the economy really growing? Maybe to make things look good, the government simply printed out 3% more dollars for the year.
Only a fool measures equality by results and not opportunities.
Race.
Even the mention of that word causes some people to instantly run for their security blanket. And woe betide the fool who DARES to put the word "privilege" after the word "white"!