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.
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.
As Trump’s job approval reverts to pre-convention levels, Americans see the Republican Party as focusing the most on jobs, the economy, and immigration while seeing the Democratic Party as focusing the most on the pandemic and race relations.
Nearly a quarter of Americans know someone personally who has died from coronavirus, while a vast majority supports keeping social distancing measures in place until a vaccine is developed and readily available.
Majorities of Americans continue to say “the worst is yet to come” for the pandemic and that Trump should stay out the development of a coronavirus vaccine and leave the issue to experts.
More Americans than ever rate the economy negatively and six in ten say it is still getting worse.
Trump’s pandemic approval continues to decline while, for the first time, half of Americans know someone who has been infected with coronavirus.