And less than a quarter of the electorate would be greatly influenced by federal politics when they cast their votes in three days, according to the poll by Patterson Research Group.

When 1200 ACT voters from across the territory's three electorates were asked to nominate the major issue that would decide the way they would vote, health was declared the dominant issue in the election, with 24 per cent of voters putting it at the top of their priorities.

Education and leadership were placed second and third respectively.

The telephone poll of 1203 voters, about 400 in each electorate, was conducted between October 11 and October 14.

Respondents were asked to nominate, without prompting, the major issue that would decide their vote.

In the same-sized poll conducted for The Canberra Times before the 2008 election, when school closures formed a key battleground, education was the issue nominated by the most voters, followed by health and the environment.

The two major parties have campaigned heavily in the 2012 election on the issue of household rates, with the Canberra Liberals staking their chances on the claim that rates would triple under a re-elected Labor government and the ALP having to adjust its campaign to counter the threat.

But ''household rates'' was nominated in fifth place in the survey, behind transport and roads, in the order of importance in voters' minds, with 9 per cent citing it as the major issue that would decide the way that they would vote.

The response was sharply divided along party lines, with 14 per cent of Liberal voters nominating rates as the major issue, against 6 per cent of Labor supporters and 4 per cent of those preferring the Greens.

When combined with the question of the cost of living more broadly, which 5 per cent of respondents thought was a major issue, the issue of rates and general household costs rose to third in the order of importance among the voters surveyed.

Labor has spent time and resources attacking the opposition over threats to public sector jobs and there has been furious argument over the roles of federal party leaders and their influence in the campaign.

But only 3 per cent of voters across Canberra rated ''public service jobs'' as a major issue, while 76 per cent of the voters surveyed said they would be ''not at all'' or ''only slightly'' influenced by federal politics when they cast their votes.

Again, the sample was divided sharply along party lines, with 30 per cent of Liberals voters saying they were ''at least quite greatly influenced'' by federal politics, compared to 19 per cent of Labor supporters.

Labor's pet cause, gay marriage, was seen as a major issue by only 2 per cent of respondents, while just 1 per cent nominated family values or their opposition to same-sex marriage.

Concern about the environment was significant only among Greens voters, with 30 per cent of the party's supporters nominating it as a major issue, compared to 3 per cent of Liberals and 4 per cent of Labor supporters. But Greens voters rated education above all, with 36 per cent of the party's supporters in the survey nominating the issue to be of major importance. In Australia's most planned city, planning was cited as an election issue by just 3 per cent of the voters surveyed.

Brindabella, the only electorate to lack a major hospital, has emerged as the most health conscious electorate, with 25 per cent of voters there nominating the issue as a major factor in their voting intentions. In Molonglo 24 per cent of voters raised health as a major issue while in the north, 22 per cent of Ginninderra voters said health would be on their minds when they cast their votes on Saturday.

In the central electorate of Molonglo, where transport links to Gungahlin have caused disquiet in the growing northern suburbs, 14 per cent of voters nominated roads and transport as a major issue, compared to 11 per cent in Ginninderra and 9 per cent in Brindabella.

Patterson Research Group managing director Keith Patterson said the poll identified a ''disconnect'' between the issues the political parties wanted to talk about and the topics identified by the voter as important.

''The data suggests that there's a disconnect between what the parties want to talk about and what the people in real world land want to talk about,'' Mr Patterson said.

''What I think they've been saying is the parties have been rabbiting on and neither of them seem to be talking about what people are talking about out there in real world land.

''It also suggests that for all the effort the parties are going to tell people what's important, they're not getting through, they're not getting to the tops of people's minds.''

TODAY at 12pm

In Part 2 of The Canberra Times election poll special , we reveal who the 1200 poll respondents think would make the better chief minister, Labor’s Katy Gallagher or Liberal Zed Seselja.

TOMORROW

In Part 3 of The Canberra Times election poll special, we reveal who the poll respondents said they would vote for across the three ACT electorates. Find out who is likely to control the Legislative Assembly and predicted winners in your electorate in tomorrow’s Canberra Times and at canberratimes.com.au