Exit polls reveal fear and loathing among US voters

Most Americans are pessimistic about their country, according to surveys

Seven out of ten American voters are unhappy about the current state of affairs in their country, 80% made up their mind about a candidate months ago, and more are worried about the economy than about abortion, exit polls conducted by Edison Research and released by CBS News have suggested.

US voters were asked about their views on a range of issues, the answers to which are used to infer their candidate preferences.

Both in battleground states and nationally, more voters have said they are worse off financially than four years ago. Trump voters overwhelmingly see the US economy negatively, while Harris voters tend to see it more positively. Overall, voters are more critical and pessimistic about the US economy than than in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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National polls have suggested that 70% of Americans are “dissatisfied or angry” about the way things were going in the US, and the same percentage expecting violence to ensue, regardless of the election outcome.

Self-identified Democrat respondents care the most about the “state of democracy” (56%), followed by abortion rights (21%), with the economy a distant third at 13%. Meanwhile, self-identified Republicans have prioritized the economy (51%), immigration (20%) and the state of democracy (12%), with abortion (6%) barely ahead of foreign policy (4%).

Democrat respondents expressed more confidence that the elections were being conducted fairly and accurately than Republicans. Seven out of ten Harris voters said they would feel “scared” if Trump won, and 24% said they would be “concerned,” compared to 58% of Trump supporters who declared that they would be frightened by a Harris presidency. 36% of Trump voters registered ‘concern’ when asked about a Harris victory.

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CBS exit polls also suggested that around 80% of voters had made up their mind by September, while only independent, first-time or “infrequent” voters had waited until Election Day to decide.

While all of this might be seen as favoring Republican candidate Donald Trump, CBS has cautioned that economic concerns did not stop the incumbent Democrats from over-performing in the 2022 midterms.