Our research below provides messaging guidance for progressives to win key policy debates.
More than three in five Americans now want Trump to concede the election, including one-third of 2020 Trump voters; by a nearly 20-point margin, a majority of Americans give Biden positive marks on his handling of the presidential transition.
This analysis seeks to understand several critical issues that were ultimately determinative in the election.
This analysis seeks to understand several critical voting blocs that were ultimately determinative in the election.
With election season nearing an ending, both Biden and Trump voters say it is more important to count every vote in the presidential election than to quickly announce the results. Americans are pessimistic about the direction of the country today, and the pandemic trumps the economy as the most important election issue for voters.
A majority say the pandemic is “out of control,” and it continues to dominate negative conversation around Trump. Americans worry most about Trump’s ignoring of experts, failure to prepare, and downplaying the pandemic; most trust Fauci to make decisions over the president.
Americans are worried the pandemic is surging: the share who say “the worst is yet to come” in the pandemic and who support “more aggressive social distancing” are climbing back to the levels seen in July amid surging cases.
The public believes it is likely the ACA will be struck down and Roe v. Wade overturned if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed; Americans are bothered by Trump’s tax returns revealing he has paid no income tax 10 of the last 15 years.
Americans continue to believe the “worst is yet to come” with the coronavirus pandemic and expect we may not have presidential election results quickly.
Coronavirus, health care, and the economy remain the top concerns for Americans as most Americans now believe the worst is yet to come in the pandemic. Separately, many Americans disagree with the decision to forego filing homicide charges in the case involving the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
The pandemic continuesto be Americans’ most important issue ata ttime when a majority continues to view America’s response to the pandemic as worse than the responses of other countries.
Some feel school reopenings are going well but most expect schools will have to close at some point due to an outbreak.
Americans believe Trump sees disorder and division as helpful to his re-election chances; nearly two-thirds of the public say Trump’s statements about the military are seriously concerning.
Though the rate of new cases has plateaued in the United States, half still say the “worst is yet to come” in the pandemic as a growing share of the public expressing concern about Trump rushing the process of getting a vaccine developed.
While support for reopening K-12 schools has ticked up in recent weeks, two-thirds of the public continue to say they are more on the “cautious” side of the reopening debate; three out of four Americans support fully funding the USPS while the share who plan to vote by mail has declined in recent weeks.
Americans support protests focused on the treatment of Black Americans and are largely not noticing increases in crime in their own communities, the vast majority say crime has increased in the United States in the last year. Americans are concerned about those close to them getting infected with coronavirus, though a minority concerned about the risk posed to them by the rise in crime.
