a hot button

hot button

Highly politicized or emotionally charged. Often used in the phrase "a hot button issue." Primarily heard in US. Wealth redistribution is a hot button issue on both sides of the political aisle.
See also: button, hot
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a hot button

AMERICAN, INFORMAL
COMMON If a subject or problem is a hot button, people have very strong feelings about it. If crime is the city's issue most known to outsiders, rent control is the city's hot button for its residents. Note: Hot-button can be used before a noun. These controversial, hot-button issues create hazards for politicians.
See also: button, hot
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • hot button
  • get hot
  • go like hot cakes
  • right on the button
  • diggety
  • diggity
  • (I've been) keeping cool
  • button up
  • hot as fire
  • (as) hot as fire
References in periodicals archive
Instead, he calls his supervisor on the IP phone with the touch of a hot button. The supervisor receives the call on her wireless IP phone a couple of floors down, and heads up to correct the problem.
Cisco blurring the lines of technology
"If there is a hot button issue, using NFBS is an opportunity to get that message out quickly and affordably to a wide audience, which includes ag consumers.
Served up daily: NFBS pleases varied industry groups with timely news service
She says a hot button is more than just a need in agriculture today.
"For example, food safety is a hot button for consumers and farmers--the whole threat of bioterrorism and security is vital to all of us.
Cool customer response? Hit their hot buttons! Royster-Clark fine-tunes web site to appeal to its customers' real passions. (Thinking Outside The Box)
"Giving a Hot Buttons card is the perfect way to say happy birthday and make them smile, but it also leaves them with a fun keepsake of their big day that they can play with over and over again," executive director of new product concepts Carol Miller says.
American Greetings unveils 2 lines