In their survey of more than 2,600 likely voters, the pollsters asked respondents to cite their three most important issues. Democratic voters chose climate change, pandemic recovery and “raising taxes on the rich” as their most important issues, closely followed by “health insurance coverage/costs.”

And now Democrats in Washington are crafting a multitrillion-dollar agenda that focuses on expanding access to health care, battling climate change and providing better child care, all financed by taxing the wealthy.

But that menu does not quite match the interests of independent voters, who chose “economy/inflation/jobs” as their top concern, with “immigration and border security” close behind and then “covid-19 pandemic recovery.”…

These voters also are keenly afraid of inflation and are concerned about whether massive federal spending — Congress approved more than $5 trillion of pandemic emergency spending from March 2020 to March 2021, with trillions more proposed by Biden for infrastructure and social programs — has fueled rising costs.