Have we ended up accepting everything?

Surveys are often published asking the population, or specific groups, what issues concern them most. Rarely are the results surprising. This lack of surprise is basically due to two principles: media intensity and proximity. The media intensity principle states that the more coverage an issue receives in the media, the more relevant we perceive it to be. The proximity principle, for its part, operates when the problem directly affects our daily lives or those of someone close to us.

The latest quarterly survey of economists in Catalonia placed infrastructure as the country's main problem, followed, in second place, by the fiscal deficit. This has generated some headlines, as infrastructure has displaced the fiscal deficit, which usually occupies the top spot. This change corresponds to the situation revealed by the Gelida derailment and its impact on very many citizens. But, if we look closely, the state of infrastructure is a direct consequence of this fiscal deficit, specifically an accumulated investment deficit estimated at 3 billion euros in Rodalies alone. In essence, we are talking about the same problem.

Economists also highlight, in third place, the issue of housing access. In the Public Opinion Barometer, however, this issue was the main concern for citizens in the three surveys of 2025. Therefore, there are differences between surveys aimed at specific groups, such as economists, and those conducted with the general population. The former offer a specialized view that identifies bottlenecks and potential levers for change to improve the functioning of the economy. The latter, on the other hand, capture a broader perception, where social and immediate factors weigh more heavily.

It remains to be seen whether the first wave of the 2026 Public Opinion Barometer will reflect the Rodalies crisis. Perhaps, as a regular user told me, "they have cooked us in a bain-marie and we have ended up accepting everything." It is also possible that the issue is now too far in the past and other more recent events have overtaken it, such as the consequences of the war with Iran. What is certain is that housing access will continue to be at the top of concerns. Unfortunately, both the fiscal deficit, in any of its forms, and housing are structural problems with complex, long-term solutions.

Having reached this point, one must ask: to what extent are opinion polls useful? In principle, they can help establish political, social, and economic priorities, both for governments and for parties, which find in them a basis for constructing discourses and proposals. They only need to be careful not to confuse symptoms with causes and end up patching things up without addressing the underlying problem.