AP VoteCast: Trump, Biden voters differ on pandemic, economy

TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS

The differences between Trump and Biden supporters — on the virus, the economy, racism and policing — are stark.

As coronavirus cases rise across the country, claiming more than 232,000 lives, Biden voters overwhelmingly said the federal government should prioritize limiting the spread of the virus — even if that damages the economy — while most Trump voters preferred protecting the economy.

About half of Trump voters called the economy and jobs the top issue facing the nation, while only 1 in 10 Biden voters named it most important.

A majority of Biden voters — about 6 in 10 — said the pandemic was the most important issue, more than twice the share of Trump voters.

The two groups did not agree on the state of the economy, either. Trump voters remain adamant that the economy is in good shape: About three-quarters call national economic conditions excellent or good. About 8 in 10 Biden voters call them not so good or poor.

Biden voters almost universally said racism is a serious problem in U.S. society and in policing, including about 7 in 10 who called it “very” serious. About half of Trump voters called racism a serious problem in U.S. society, and just under half said it was a serious problem in policing.

A REFERENDUM ON TRUMP

Trump courted his voter base throughout his presidency, and their loyalty showed. About 8 in 10 said their vote was an endorsement of him, not cast in opposition to Biden.

Biden voters, meanwhile, were closely split over whether they were voting mainly to support Biden or oppose Trump.

The division was likely a reflection of Democrats’ overwhelming opposition to the president, as well as lingering ambivalence about Biden. The former vice-president, who campaigned as a moderate who could draw support from a broad electorate, endured a tough primary with opposition from the progressive wing of his party.

Republicans enjoyed more cohesion. Trump voters were more likely than Biden voters to say they agreed with their candidate all or most of the time, 81% versus 74%.

THE PANDEMIC’S PERSONAL IMPACT

A wide majority of voters said the coronavirus pandemic has affected them personally. About 4 in 10 said their household lost a job or income. Roughly half said they missed out on a major event, and about 2 in 10 said that a close friend or family member died from the virus.

Biden voters were somewhat more likely than Trump voters to say they’ve felt the impact in at least one of those ways, 73% to 62%.

Voters see their financial situations as holding steady despite the fragile economy. About 7 in 10 said their personal finances are stable; roughly 2 in 10 said they are falling behind. Just about 1 in 10 said they are getting ahead financially.

VOTING

Voters did not stay on the sidelines, with experts predicting total votes will exceed the 139 million cast in 2016. About 101 million people voted ahead of Election Day.

About three-quarters said they’ve known all along who they were supporting in this election.

Voters were measured in their confidence that the vote count would be accurate — despite Trump seeking to sow doubts about the integrity of the vote count.

About a quarter of voters said they are very confident that the votes in the election will be counted accurately, while 4 in 10 were somewhat confident. Roughly 3 in 10 said they are not confident in an accurate vote count.

RACIAL UNREST

After a summer of protests and sometimes-violent clashes over racial inequality in policing, about half of voters call racism a “very serious” problem in U.S. society. Roughly 3 in 10 say it’s somewhat serious; about 2 in 10 say it’s not a serious problem. Similar shares call racism a serious problem in policing in this country.

About a third of voters said police in the U.S. are too tough on crime; fewer — about a quarter — said police are not tough enough. About 4 in 10 think police handle crime about right.

But compared with the pandemic and the economy, relatively few voters deemed racism or law enforcement the country’s top issue: 8% said racism was most important and just 4% said law enforcement was.

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

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AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for Fox News, NPR, PBS NewsHour, Univision News, USA Today Network, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. The survey of 109,674 voters was conducted for eight days, concluding as polls closed. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The survey combines a random sample of registered voters drawn from state voter files; self-identified registered voters conducted using NORC’s probability basedAmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population; and self-identified registered voters selected from nonprobability online panels. The margin of sampling error for voters is estimated to be plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. Find more details about AP VoteCast’s methodology at https://ap.org/votecast.

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For AP’s complete coverage of the U.S. presidential elections: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2020

Tammy Webber And Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

AP VoteCast: Trump, Biden voters differ on pandemic, economy

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