WASHINGTON (WS News) – Voters for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump who cast their ballots for Tuesday’s presidential election had vastly different motivations – reflecting a broader national divide on the problems the United States faces.
AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found that the fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Vice President Harris’ supporters. It was a sign that the Democratic nominee’s messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through.
By contrast, Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation – two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign.
Trump has pledged that tariffs would bring back factory jobs and that greater domestic oil production would flow through the economy and lower prices.
Overall, the presidential candidates’ coalitions, based on race, education and community type, appeared largely similar to the 2020 results. Preliminary AP VoteCast findings, however, hinted at some shifts among demographic groups that could be meaningful for the ultimate outcome, including among younger, Black and Hispanic voters.
Most Trump and Harris voters motivated in support of their candidate
Both candidates generated loyalty among their coalitions, a change from four years ago when Trump was ousted from the White House by Biden.
In 2020, about half of Biden’s backers said their vote for him was cast in opposition to Trump, and about half said their vote was for Biden. This year, roughly two-thirds of Harris voters said they were motivated to vote in favor of her. Only about one-third were voting in opposition to Trump.
Enthusiasm for Trump within his base held steady. Similar to in 2020, about 8 in 10 Trump voters said they cast their ballot in a sign of support for him, rather than to simply oppose his opponent.
The candidates had different strengths in the eyes of voters. Slightly more than half of voters said Harris has the moral character to be president, compared to about 4 in 10 who said that about Trump.
Nearly 6 in 10 said Trump lacked the moral character to be president, a reflection of his criminal convictions, his often inflammatory rhetoric, his sexist remarks and actions and his denial of the 2020 presidential election results that fed into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Slightly fewer than half said Harris did not possess the morality to be president.
But voters gave Trump an edge on being a strong leader. Slightly more than half of voters described Trump as a strong leader, and slightly fewer than half said the same about Harris.
About 6 in 10 said Harris has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, compared to about half who said that about Trump.
