What we know from the early exit polls so far

Exit polls will change as the night goes on because they are matched toward actual results at the end of the night. But the early exit polls, as reported by NBC and CNN so far, tell us a few things:

The most important issues for voters in the election mirror what has been reported in pre-election polls like the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. For more than a third of voters, democracy was the top issue, followed by the economy (about 3 in 10 voters), abortion rights (1 in 7), and immigration (1 in 10). Foreign policy was in low single digits — less than 10% — as a top issue.

A majority of Harris voters said democracy was their top issue. Second for them was abortion rights.

For Trump voters, the economy was most important, followed by immigration (1 in 5) and democracy (1 in 10). Nothing else was in double-digits.

Harris voters said it was most important to have a leader with good judgment and someone who cares about people. Trump voters prefer someone who has the ability to lead or can bring about needed change. Good judgment and someone who cares were in single digits for Trump voters.

Americans overall are in a bad mood. Three-quarters said they’re either dissatisfied or angry about the direction of the country. That’s not surprising, because in every month for the past 15 years, Americans have said the country is off on the wrong track.

Almost 6 in 10 said they disapprove of the job President Biden is doing. And that may be because of the economy. Two-thirds said the economy is either not so good or poor and more than 8 in 10 said inflation has caused them either moderate hardship (53%) or severe hardship (21%). Almost half of voters said their family’s financial situation is worse than four years ago.

But there was also considerable optimism from voters – 6 in 10 said America’s best days are ahead of it; just a third said they’re in the past.

Note: Exit polls are conducted by Edison Research and paid for by TV networks like CNN, NBC and others. NPR does not pay for either Edison’s exit polls or the Associated Press’ VoteCast, which are not exit polls but very large entrance polls, or pre-election polls taken up to when polls close.

Fox News’ post-election analysis about the shape of the electorate, most important issues and other issues will be based on AP’s VoteCast.

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