US election: Two-thirds of voters cast ballots based on opinion of Trump, survey finds

An extensive voter survey from the Associated Press revealed that two-thirds of US voters made their decision at the polls based on their opinion of Donald Trump.

The AP’s VoteCast survey also discovered that Americans were more likely to say that the public health crisis from the coronavirus pandemic remains the most important issue facing the US, among roughly four in 10 voters.

Some six in 10 people surveyed said that the US is headed in the wrong direction with Covid-19.

The survey revealed the extent of the pandemic’s impact among Americans, with four out of 10 respondents reporting that their household lost a job or incomes.

Roughly two in 10 said a close friend or family member had died from the disease.

More than 230,000 people in the US have died from the outbreak that has infected more than 9.3 million Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Unemployment remains at roughly 8 per cent, following the economic fallout from the pandemic that saw mass layoffs and business closures, along with the loss of employer-backed insurance for millions of Americans, swelling the ranks of unemployed people to 23.1 million in April, or a rate of 14.7 per cent, the highest-ever on record, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three in 10 voters said that the state of the economy remains the most important issue in the US, while roughly one in 10 voters ranked racism as the top issue in the US, though about half of voters called racism a “very serious” problem within the US.

Half of voters said that the spread of the disease is under control in the US, while six out of 10 voters said the economy is in poor shape – roughly four in 10 believe that the nation’s economic state is in “excellent” or “good” condition.

After months of unrest in the wake of police killings of Black Americans, the issues of racial justice and policing are the top concerns among relatively few voters, the AP survey found.

Only 4 per cent said law enforcement – which the president has made a chief priority in his re-election bid – is the nation’s most important issue.

VoteCast’s preliminary results reflect a nationwide survey of more than 127,000 voters and nonvoters conducted for the AP by NORC at the University of Chicago.