WASHINGTON — As a new president moves into the White House next year, residents in the Washington area want the next occupant to focus on the balancing the federal budget.
About two in 10 who responded to a Charles Schwab survey shared that view. Tax reform and the unemployment rate were the second and third top priorities.
Social programs were next, as focus on Medicaid funding, minimum wage and social security reform were desired by about one in 10 each.
Wall Street reform, encouraging retirement savings, immigration and health care were further down the list.
At the bottom? Cutting federal spending, an answer only one percent of respondents gave.
Almost everyone in the Washington region feels the local economy is either doing just as well or better than the national economy.
About 93 percent of residents surveyed said the same.
Six in 10 Washingtonians feel that the local economy is doing better than the national economy and only seven percent think the opposite is true. Eight in 10 residents in the metro area feel the region’s economy is staying the same or improving, which is more optimistic than the six in 10 local residents who think the same about the national economy.
Those surveyed were about four times more likely to say D.C.’s economy will grow rather than shrink and were more likely to say the national economy will weaken rather than get stronger.
