The 2014 midterm election features plenty of surprises, but add this one to the mix: Voters who say the economy and health care are the biggest factors in their congressional vote are currently favoring ... the Democrats!

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the economy leading the pack as a voting issue, with 35 percent calling it their top priority. Between 10 and 15 percent each pick four other issues, including the way Washington works, health care, international conflicts and immigration.



Washington Post-ABC News poll Sept. 4-7. Results based on 888 registered voters, margin of sampling error +/- 4 points.

Voters' focus on a slowly recovering economy might not seem like something that would accrue to Democrats's benefit, yet voters who prioritize the economy say 53 percent to 40 percent that they currently would support a generic Democrat over a generic Republican.

Republicans, meanwhile, win the most support among the 12 percent of voters focused on international conflicts. They favor GOP candidates by 22 percentage points over Democrats. Voters focused on health care, the way Washington works and immigration all split their votes by single digit margins which are not statistically significant.

The Democrats' focus on the economy and the GOP's focus on overseas issues actually make sense, though, since issue priorities are often driven by partisanship. Partisans tend to place a bigger priority on issues where they are critical of a party or president they dislike. For instance, Gallup polling last month found Republicans were much more apt to say immigration is the nation's top problem as the Obama administration came under criticism for it's handling of unaccompanied children at the border. And in 2006, exit polling showed voters who supported Democrats were far more likely to prioritize the then-unpopular Iraq war.

In this light, Democrats might find some solace in the new Post-ABC poll, which shows Republicans are less apt than Democrats to cite the economy and jobs as their most important issue (30 percent vs. 41 percent). Republican voters are diffuse in their electoral motivations, with 19 percent focused on international conflicts and 15 percent choosing immigration -- both that's still more than registered voters overall.

At the very least, the lack of unity suggests the slowly recovering economy and the health care law are not the cudgels that Republicans once wielded against Democrats.

But the diffuse GOP issues matrix basically all centers around one thing: criticism of President Obama. Fully 62 percent of Republican voters say one reason for their congressional vote will be to express opposition to Obama; just 42 percent of Democrats say they will vote in an effort to support him.

Unlike past elections, though, that criticism isn't really rooted in the economy or Obamacare.