counterparts, anything on this? >> i need to take this one back and see what my colleagues might have to say about it. have a great afternoon, i will see some of you in chicago tomorrow. >> roberts a look discusse ukraine's economy and reconstruction efforts with the washington post live at 10:30 p.m. eastern o c-span, c-span now and online at c-span.org.

over the weekend, rm president donald trump talked about his time at the white house and commented on his federal indictment while eang to the freedom coalition. you can watch it tonight a9:00 eastern on c-span. then, florida govern r desantis unveils his border security plan at a recent campaign stop in texas. you can watch on the video app or online at c-span.org. ood tuesday morning, you can start calling in now. what is the nation's biggest problem? that is the question we are asking. here are some of the top findings from a pole. inflation remains the top concern for republicans and republican leaning independents with 77% saying it is a very big problem. the state of moral values, illegal immigration and the budget deficit are seen as top

problems by two thirds of republicans. for democratic leaners, gun violence is the top, with 1810 saying it is a big problem. affordability of health care is second. democrats are more than four times as likely as republicans to say that climate change is a big problem. they are more likely to say gun violence and racism are big problems. that is from the new research center report out in the past couple of days, some 5000 respondents to that survey. we want to have that survey this morning in this first hour, what is the nation's top problems? give us a call on the phone lines or send a text message, we are also looking at facebook and twitter. someone writing and a lack of good education in every state is the nation's top problem.

linda taylor says it is the 24/7 news networks that regurgitate their own opinionated talking points, often devoid of facts, prove, accuracy or reality. coral on facebook says the democratic created failing economy in recession is the biggest problem. the second runner-up is the invasion of the southern border. as time passes, younger generations are increasingly worse off than their parents. automation is making it harder for many to make a decent living. income inequality is creating fertile ground for trumpism to flourish in certain quarters. steven writes in that politicians are dividing us in that is the biggest problem. some comments from social media, we want to hear from you. asking what is the nation's biggest problem. (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for independence,

-- for democrats, (202) 748-8002 for independents. we start in alabama, independent. caller: good morning. i live in birmingham. last year, we bypassed 133 homesites in the city, which was 86 years, a record break. here it is in 2023, we are at 69 homicides. homicides in murder and violence is the number one issue. when you look at violence holistically with all the multi-shootings we have had across the nation, i do not see have nothing else could be an issue for america than the self hallucination of citizens, the young black man, is profound and

should be more announced. realize black america deserves reparations like a lot of entities. chinese, jews, everyone else. what happened to us, almost 400 years of slavery. those are systemic ramifications for what we see happening throughout the larger cities of america and smaller townships. for me as a black man and activists that deals with crime in birmingham, it is a sad indictment. every two days, we have at least two homicides. we are in the middle of june with 69 homicides for this city. i think we are number two in the nation as a relates to homicides in america. host: this is thomas in rhode

island, line for republicans. what is the biggest problem facing the country? caller: good morning. i am a vietnam veteran, disabled veteran. i know what it is to give life and i know what it is to take life. i believe one of the number one problems in america is a lack of respect, and it shows in regard to homegrown americans, veterans and nonveterans living on the sidewalks of the 50 states. the lucky ones are living in tents, the unlucky ones are

living completely on the sidewalks. the method of food is to beg for loose change so that they may be able to go into a coffeehouse and purchase a cup of coffee and a doughnut. this is america. our southern border is the number one problem that is causing this. i believe today, 7 million, million with an m, illegal immigrants have crossed our border. they are provided hotels, motels , food vouchers, clothing vouchers and all kinds of other

incentives. at the same time, we take a broom and brush the american citizen to one side. the problem with the border is a democratic problem. host: thomas in rhode island on illegal immigration, 47% of respondents to the poll saying it is a big problem in the country. when you break it down by party, 70% of republicans describe it as a very big problem, 25% of democrats describe it as a very big problem in this country right now. in maryland, line for democrats. good morning. caller: my opinion is the economy is the biggest problem americans are facing. the pandemic is over, which is a

wonderful thing, the most important thing. but people are suffering because of all the cutbacks to food stamps and medicaid and health care and all kinds of things. the pandemic is over, all kinds of cutbacks to funds. they get cut back on all kinds of things. immigration is important to people want to come over the border and have a new life, better life for their children and families. we treat migrants terribly coming over the border because they have been bussed all over the country. racism is a big problem, so is sexism. have a great day. host: president biden said yesterday on his -- set off on his investing in america tour.

here is how the washington times put it on the front page of their paper. the president sets off on a path to revive lost confidence in bidenomics.they announced more than $40 billion for high-speed internet projects, pledged that every household in the country will have high-speed internet access by 2030. paducah, kentucky is next. independent, good morning. caller: the main problem is corruption from the government down to the media. the media is a mouthpiece for the democratic party. crime, the economy, everything is being hidden by the media. they only tell one side of the story. democrats are letting all of these illegal immigrants in. you want to talk about the economy, bidenflation.

when trump was in office, it was 1.4%. because biden wants to pay everyone off with student loans, so-called green energy which does not work, the democrat party is corrupt, along with all of their holdings in the media. host: inflation and prices in this country, one more chart today showing the comparison of prices on various items from today to january of 2021, when president biden took office. gasoline at three dollars 79 cents per gallon, it was two dollars 39 cents per gallon in january 2021. eggs $2.66 per pound, $1.46 back in january. chase in maryland, good morning.

caller: good morning. thanks for having me. the last caller, talk about projection. but i think every issue that was pointed out in the previous calls, we have a congress that is elected by us, the americans. and they refused to do anything for us. there is no consensus or ability to work together. they might push out policy, but it is one-sided. it is not necessarily good policy. with that being said, i do not see them working for the american people. all these issues we talk about could be taken care of by congress, if they were willing to do something together for us. not all policy is great policy,

nor is it fair for everyone across-the-board. that is why you negotiate. the other issue is the money that goes into politics. politicians are corrupt, they all are. that is because money and people with money have the influence to create or influence the policies in the focus areas that congress is centering on. that, to me, is the biggest issue. host: does it surprise you in the latest poll of the inability of congress to work together was the third biggest problem of problems cited by 5000 respondents to the poll? we talked about differences when it came to immigration, 70% of republicans is saying it is a big problem, 25% of democrats.

when it comes to the inability of democrats and republicans to work together, 63% of republicans say it is a big problem, 62% of democrats. they are essentially even on this concern about the inability to work together. caller: there is consensus, 60 2% across-the-board is pretty significant. for its only be third, i wish it would be first. then again, even if 60% of republicans believe illegal immigration is a problem and only 27% of democrats believe it , there are still issues within immigration that can be addressed through policy. but they are not doing anything to address it. host: in terms of not doing anything to address it, a headline from politico taking a look at what might happen if

congress does not address its budgeting plans, debt deal twist is shifting congress is shut down game. there could be another shut down right, that is from politico today looking down the road six months from now. in minneapolis, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. my top priority is the chinese spy balloon and any impeachment. it is trying to stop take over -- they're trying to go hard on my community. my thing is protecting trans people and making sure we have a country were all of us can live. i live in minnesota. we should have more congresspeople like her, a

couple days ago we had that she could not cite anything good. matt walsh, the guy who says he is a christian fascist on his twitter feed. the thing is just to stop the fascists from coming into office. voting for less of those people. host: lawmakers in this country could make history, that would be delaware. state senator sarah mcbride, the highest ranking transgender elected official, announced her candidacy to become delaware's congresswoman. she would become the first trans person openly elected to office, but would be the youngest elected official delaware has

sent to washington since joe biden's win in 1972. a couple other stories about lgbtq community this morning, this from the new york times today, just a picture of vice president kamala harris. she visited the stonewall inn on monday, the site of the 1969 riots that spark the modern lgbtq rights movement. she took selfies with the assembled people there on the day after new york's pride month. kamala harris in that picture from the new york times today. one more story on this topic, this from colorado. the shooter who killed five people at a colorado springs nightclub in 2022 was sentenced to life in prison on monday after victims called the defendant a monster who hunted down lgbtq patrons in a

calculated attack. he pleaded guilty to five counts of murder, 46 counts of attempted murder, one for each person inside club q on the night of the shooting. we are asking you, what is the nation's top problem? in maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. i think the top problem in our nation's education. to teach everyone to start school from first grade to know our history, how our government is working. number two, do not push your religion. separate it from schools and the government. three, it is good to help everyone coming 2 america, because you were all pilgrims, except the indians.

we have to teach our children the integrity, honesty and let immigration come to the front door. not from the back door. five -- i guess i already gave enough. but number five is to make sure if you are complaining, serve your country and vote for the right congressperson to represent you. host: this is john in arizona.

republican line. caller: hello. i do not disagree with the major ones people have mentioned, i'm going to mention one that is a little bit not recognized, but think it is super important. that is when i went into vote at the last election, i said my ballot looks just like everybody else. how are you going to know if somebody is inserting ballots? we do not know. i want to put a number on a unique number for each registered voter that goes on the ballot and either the ballot gets voted or does not get voted. but you cannot have someone coming in after midnight and

inserting votes for one particular candidate. i think there should be numbers on the ballots. inflation is bad, border security is bad. lots of major things that are bad. but i do not think anyone else has been thinking about this were talking about getting it implemented. after you clean up voting roles, after you have gotten people that moved out, you will have a registered number. one person, one vote. host: new mexico, brian, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. so many of our problems are tangential to the dysfunctional american family. kids education levels are getting worse.

reading skills are worse. it starts with the parents. 40% of children in this country are born to women who are not married and most of these women cannot afford to support themselves or their children. they are having children willy-nilly, then turned to the taxpayer and say you have to take care of me. that is the wrong way to live. you are supposed to educate yourself, find your life partner , get established in your career, then you have children. so many americans do it backwards and we never talk about it. we hear all these conversations about you cannot afford childcare, health care, can't afford this or that. if you cannot afford children, that is god's way of telling you you are not ready to have children and we need to discourage that. it needs to be frowned upon. it should be limited to, one child. if you are uncovered, you do not

get to have more children. host: we heard quite a bit about moral values in this country, if you are watching the state and freedom coalition 2023 conference. among those who spoke, presidential candidate ron desantis. here is the florida governor. [video clip] >> you see the problems in this country, the economy where you pay more for daily necessities like groceries. meanwhile, the people in this town with the spending, debt and printing are living high on the hog. you see a southern border that is white oppen, -- open, illegal aliens and deadly narcotics. you see cities that have been overrun with crime, places that have been hollowed out like san francisco. we see a federal government whose agencies have been weaponized against their fellow

americans, including people of faith. underlying all of that is the fact the left is lighting the fire of a cultural revolution all across this land. the fire smolders in our schools, incorporate boardrooms, in the halls of government. we are told we must accept that men can get pregnant. we are told to celebrate a swimmer who swam for three years on the men's team, then switches to the women's team and somehow is named women's champion. we are told to sit idly by as they try to rewrite and distort history and demean the founders of this nation. we have had to watch as a football coach had to go all the way to the u.s. supreme court just to get his job back for the quote crime of saying prayers in

the midfield after football games. we see professional sports teams openly elevating groups who overtly demean people of faith. let us be clear about this. we did not start this fire. but as president of the united states, i will leave the effort to extinguish the fire of cultural marxism once and for all, all across this country. host: ron desantis at the faith and freedom coalition policy conference, that was from friday. we are about halfway through this first hour of washington journal. we are talking about this research center poll that asked some 5000 americans, what is the biggest problem facing america? inflation, health costs and partisan cooperation are among the top problems.

inflation cited by 65% of respondents is a big problem, including 52% of democratic respondents, 72% of republican respondents. president biden yesterday launched a tour to talk about his economic plan for this country, he talked about inflation. this is president biden from earlier this month on a campaign stop in philadelphia, touting his economic achievements. here is a little of what he had to say. [video clip] >> from the bottom up and middle out, not the top down. when the middle-class does well, everybody does well. the wealthy do just fine. but like i said, i did not come into office with a theory, it came with a plan. i started passing the american

rescue plan, to vaccinate the nation and get our economy going again. that is exactly what it did, it put money in people's pockets and provided a lifeline for businesses to stay afloat. it kept 7 million people in their homes. it did one more thing. that matters a lot to you. it included the butch lewis act. that was a big deal. that was a big deal, i committed when we worked together, you got that passed for me. it is one of the most significant achievements to union workers in over 50 years, that is a fact. not a single republican in congress voted for it, but we still got it done because of you. next, we passed bipartisan infrastructure law.

we cannot have the strongest economy in the world without the best infrastructure. can you believe we used to have the best infrastructure in the world, rated number one? today, we rate number 13. 12 other nations. how could you grow an economy without infrastructure? not a joke. under my predecessor, infrastructure became a punchline. on my watch, we are making it a decade headline. that is what this is all about. investing in america. high-speed internet and so much more. host: president biden earlier this month. asking you this morning, what do you think the nation's top problem is? phone lines for republicans, democrats and independents.

this is eddie, from south carolina. good morning. caller: the biggest threat facing us today is media outlets like yourself. you won't showed the republican committees like used to do the democrats, you will not cover biden and his crooked -- taking millions from china, that is the biggest problem. you touted, look earlier at a gay bar or whatever, she has a -17 approval rating for god sake, wake up. host: did you miss the durham hearings we showed last week? caller: you do not show them, you bury them just like you put the republican and democrat lines on for people to come in. take the lines off and let people call in, you will see what a majority of the country thanks. host: if you want to watch the hearing he was referring to, you

can do it on our website. this is bradley in richland hills, texas. independent. good morning. caller: the problems i see is morality, civility and greed. host: in that order? caller: yes. host: any thoughts on what we can do about those problems? caller: you need to get back to fundamental basics of what made this country. we have drifted so far away from god. look at the results. look what is going on. we have government trying to persecute a former president and we as a society are being

persecuted because those of us that voted for him, everybody wants to throw everybody in jail or cause harm. there is civility. we are drifting so far away from god, you are seeing the destruction of this nation. that is the way i see it. i do not know the answer other than to try to get back to the fundamental basics. host: in ohio, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. sounds like you're getting an earful. i am a vietnam veteran, complications -- and not, the economy and national defense. under donald trump, who i will vote for a third time, our enemies feared us.

putin would not be in ukraine right now if donald trump had been allowed to be reelected. enemies feared us and they are walking all over joe biden. the economy and in with defense. the economy was booming under donald trump and joe biden blamed high inflation on pugin, but that started day one, when he picked up his pen. inflation under trump was 1.4, 1.6. all i am saying for this biden character is blaming trump on everything. but he is the number one problem. our enemies feared donald trump,

the economy was booming under donald trump. host: this is david in texas, democrat. good morning. caller: the biggest problem i can see in this country and really any country at any time is the economy. if people can buy things. things they need. we let people into the country not legally. if it was legally, than anyone could come in. but we have to support those people. there are homeless people we need to take care of and our own country, he needs to take care

of our people. host: david in texas, on the ability to buy things, the ability to buy health care in this country is cited as a big problem by some 64% of respondents to the poll, including 73% of democrats, 54% of republicans, the second most often cited problem in this country, according to that response. some 5000 people responding to that report from early june, it came out just a few days ago. we are talking about in this first hour of the washington journal. in michigan, independent. caller: good morning. i believe it is education and lack of perspective on what is going on around the world. in their own backyard.

to me, it is the amount of education that people get. it is limited to, i can understand that. it is hard to keep up on all the things going on in communities around the world and your own backyard. host: are you talking about education in schools, k-12 and college, or people just educating themselves about world events? caller: both. it should start in the schools. what we value and what we put our priorities on, i think it needs to be a broader education. maybe our education system is to limited and needs to be extended. i know that does not work for all people. i do not know what you are going to