Read on for analysis of CNN’s preliminary 2022 national exit polls.
About 8 in 10 voters in this year’s midterms said they were at least somewhat confident that their state’s elections are being conducted fairly and accurately, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research. About half said they were very confident. Only about 2 in 10 said they had little or no confidence.
But voters were also deeply concerned about the state of the country’s democracy. Just under 3 in 10 said they view democracy in the US today as at least somewhat safe, with about 7 in 10 feeling that democracy in the country is somewhat or very much threatened.
Just over 6 in 10 voters accepted that Biden legitimately won the presidency in 2020, while about a third rejected the results of that election.
6:16 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
While voters in this year’s midterm elections have negative views of President Joe Biden, their views of his predecessor are even more negative, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research. .
Only about 37% of voters in this year’s midterms expressed a favorable view of former President Donald Trump, with about 6 in 10 viewing him unfavorably. About 16 percent of voters said their House vote this year was intended to express support for Trump, with fewer than 3 in 10 saying it was intended to express opposition and the remainder saying Trump was not a factor.
Voters’ views of the Democratic Party were slightly more positive than their views of Trump, with about 43% viewing the Republican Party favorably and just over half viewing it unfavorably. More than half, about 54%, say the GOP is too extreme.
6:00 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
There is a significant partisan divide in voter priorities and attitudes this year, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.
Nearly half of voters who supported a GOP House candidate named inflation their top issue, with fewer than 15% choosing any other issue as their priority. Among voters who supported a Democratic candidate, about 44 percent named abortion their top issue, with 15 percent or fewer choosing any other issue.
Meanwhile, midterm voters were mostly opposed to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to preliminary national exit polls.
Just under 4 in 10 said they felt excited or satisfied with the decision, while about 21% said they felt unhappy and about 4 in 10 said they were angry.
About 60% of all voters said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, up from 51% among voters who took part in the 2020 general election.
5:52 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
Early indications are that this year’s midterm electorate may look larger than voters in the 2018 midterms, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.
Only about a tenth of voters in this election were under 30, while about a third were aged 65 or over. In 2018, about 13% were under 30 and about 26% were 65 or older.
The electorate this year was roughly split between those who generally identify as Democrats (about 34%) and those who generally identify as Republicans (about 35%), with the remainder made up of political independents and members of other parties. In 2018, Democrats made up a slightly larger voting bloc, about 37%.
About 76% of voters were White and about 24% were voters of color. White voters with college degrees appear to make up a slightly larger share of the electorate this year – about 40 percent, according to preliminary data, compared with 31 percent four years ago. In contrast, voters of color who don’t have a college degree appear to make up a slightly smaller share of the electorate this year.
5:29 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
Inflation tops the list of voters’ concerns in this year’s midterm elections, with abortion a close second, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.
About a third named inflation as the most important issue for their vote, with about 27% citing abortion. The rest were roughly split between choosing crime, gun policy and immigration as their top concerns.
The electorate’s views on the economy are largely bleak. Only about a quarter of voters felt positive about the current state of the economy, with about three-quarters seeing it negatively – and about 4 in 10 saying it’s downright poor.
That’s more pessimistic than the 2018 midterm elections, when 68% of voters said the state of the economy was excellent or good, and the 2020 presidential election, when 49% said the same.
About 46% of voters in this election say their family’s financial situation had worsened in the past two years, while only about 1 in 5 said it had improved.
More than three-quarters of voters in this year’s election say inflation has caused them and their family hardships in the past year, with around 20% saying it has been a serious hardship. And about 6 in 10 say gas prices, in particular, have recently been a difficulty.
5:23 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
Voters in this year’s midterm elections are broadly dissatisfied with the state of the nation and have largely negative views of President Joe Biden, according to preliminary national exit poll results conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.
More than 7 in 10 said they are less satisfied with the way things are going in the country, with about a third saying they are not just dissatisfied but angry with the state of the nation.
Biden’s approval rating is about 45% among voters in this year’s election — nearly identical to then-Donald Trump’s 45% approval rating four years ago among midterm voters in 2018. And voters in that election had more than twice more likely to strongly disapprove of Biden than they were to strongly approve of him.
Just over half of voters this year said Biden’s policies mostly hurt the country, with about 36 percent saying his policies mostly help and the rest saying they make no difference.
Many voters did not see their congressional vote as a referendum on the president — nearly half said Biden was not a factor in their vote, while about 18 percent said their vote was to express support for Biden, and about a third was to express opposition to him.
Updated 5:13 p.m. ET / Ariel Edwards-Levy
The 2022 exit polls include interviews with thousands of voters, both those who voted on Election Day and those who voted early or were absent. This scope makes them a powerful tool for understanding the demographic profile and political views of voters in this year’s election. And their findings will ultimately be weighed against the ultimate benchmark: the election results themselves. Even so, exit polls are still polls, with a margin of error – which means they’re most useful when treated as estimates rather than exact measurements. This is especially true for early exit poll numbers, which have not yet been adjusted to match the final election results.
CNN’s Exit Polls are a combination of in-person interviews with voters on Election Day and in-person interviews, telephone and online polls that gauge the views of early and absentee voters by mail. They were conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the National Election Pool. Personal interviews on election day were conducted at a random sample of 250 polling stations. The results also include interviews with early and absentee voters conducted in person at 72 early voting locations, by phone or online. Results for the full sample of 12,458 respondents have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. it is larger for subgroups.
This story has been updated with additional information.
