Actually, that's not as bad as it looks since the question is the top priority of the gov. Env. and global warming are only 2% behind terrorism. As I understand it, once an issue gets more than about 11% behind it as a primary factor in determining a vote it has arrived. To repeat, some leadership by a candidate could help close that gap.

Yep, and when you do a "stacked" issue set by perceived importance, environment often falls way down (I have seen it as low as 15th on some Pew polls).

Also not surprisingly, energy/gasoline has really moved up in its primacy over the past few weeks--when energy was cheap, it was much lower of course.

http://www.pollingreport.com/prioriti.htm (pollingreport.com is a good source for this stuff, as is pollster.com)

USA Today/Gallup Poll. Feb. 8-10, 2008. N=1,016 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

"Now I am going to read a list of some of the issues that will probably be discussed in this year’s presidential election campaign. As I read each one, please tell me how important the candidates' positions on that issue will be in influencing your vote for president: extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not important. How about [see below]?"

Extremely/Very Important %

The economy 89
The situation in Iraq 87
Education 81
Corruption in government 79
Health care 79
Energy, including gas prices 79
Terrorism 77
Social Security 73
The federal budget deficit 73
Moral values 69
Medicare 69
Taxes 69
The environment, including global warming 62
Illegal immigration 60

Leadership is key to keeping an issue salient, but so's the news... :(