This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers reactions to the election, trust in the results, expectations for the election aftermath, changes in public opinion, and the economy.
Election reactions
- Our latest poll — which was conducted between the morning after Election Day and the following day — finds that nearly every voter (96%) believes they made the right choice when they cast their ballot
- Most say they were voting mostly for their preferred candidate, rather than against their candidate's opponent — including 60% of Kamala Harris voters and 84% of Donald Trump voters
- 77% of Trump voters say they were enthusiastic about the outcome; 20% were satisfied but not enthusiastic
- 66% of Harris voters were upset; 24% were dissatisfied but not upset
- Overall, 79% of registered voters believe the result will have a lot of impact on the country; 40% believe it will have a lot of impact on themselves personally
- 47% of registered voters say they were very or somewhat surprised by the outcome, including 66% of Harris voters but only 29% of Trump voters
- 66% of registered voters say Trump received more votes than they expected while 21% say he won about about as many as they expected
- 58% say Harris got fewer votes than they expected while 14% say she got about as many as they expected
- Harris voters were particularly surprised by the results: 82% say she received fewer votes than expected and 79% say Trump did better than expected
Election trust and aftermath
- 75% of registered voters — including 53% of Harris voters and 97% of Trump voters — say they accept that Trump is the legitimate president
- 46% say mass protests in reaction to the election results are very or somewhat likely, including 37% of Harris voters and 55% of Trump voters
- 36% say violence in reaction to the election results is very or somewhat likely, including 21% of Harris voters and 50% of Trump voters
- Only 9% believe that enough voter fraud occurred to influence the outcome
- Before the election, many Trump supporters expressed skepticism that the election would be fair or that their own vote would be accurately counted; now, more than two-thirds of Trump voters and Harris voters have a great deal or quite a bit of confidence that their vote was counted accurately and about two-thirds say that the election was conducted fairly
Changing views after the election
- In the immediate aftermath of the election, Democrats' and Republicans' assessment of the country have changed: Since a week before the election, the share of Republicans saying the country generally is headed in the right direction has nearly tripled, while the share of Democrats who say so has been cut by roughly half
- Throughout the campaign, Harris generally was seen more favorably than Trump was; now he is slightly more likely to be viewed favorably
- Opinions of President Joe Biden remain negative: 57% of registered voters think unfavorably of him while 41% are favorable
- 41% strongly or somewhat approve of Biden's handling of his job; 57% disapprove
- Hypothetically, had Biden been the candidate against Trump, he would have lost by 7 percentage points, 49% to 42%
- Before the election, 80% of Trump supporters said the economy was getting worse; now 60% do
- Harris voters, though still generally positive about the trend of the economy, are more likely now than just before the election to say the economy is getting worse
- While most Trump voters still see a worsening economy, 67% expect inflation to be lower in six months — up from 19% just before the election
- Harris voters now are much more likely than they were to expect inflation to increase: 49% expect inflation to be higher in six months, up from 15% just before the election
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
See the toplines and crosstabs for the November 6 - 7, 2024 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,590 registered voters. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of registered voters in the U.S. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, and baseline party identification. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%
Image: Getty (Chip Somodevilla / Staff)
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