Public Opinion Strategies Election Night Poll Take-Away Points
- Despite the record-breaking negative mood of the country, and lackluster Biden approval scores, the GOP’s narrow margin on the generic ballot translated into a smaller advantage than anticipated in the US House.
- Voters’ top issues were “rising prices and inflation” and “abortion,” followed by “the economy and jobs” and “protecting democracy.” Inflation/economic issues were cited by 58% of voters while abortion and protecting democracy were cited by 56%, providing the GOP with only a modest advantage.
- One key to the better-than-expected Democrat performance in the election is the threat that Democrats believed GOP candidates posed for the country. Fully 81% of Democratic voters agree that “Republicans represent a threat to democracy that will destroy America as we know it.” By way of comparison, just 69% of Republicans feel the same way about Democrats.
- Our polling indicates Democrats had the late momentum, as late deciders (24% of the electorate) broke 51%-47% in their favor.
- Both Republicans and Democrats want their parties to work across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation, rather than push through the policies that the respective parties ran on
- This data seems to point to the sentiment that while voters were ready and willing to make a change, they didn’t fully trust the GOP to be that change.
Bottom Line
Regardless of the final numbers and the outcome of the House and Senate races where votes are still being counted, Democrats out-performed expectations and Americans once again reinforced the extreme partisan divide in the country.
View our full deck here.