Exit polls: Nearly 40 percent of voters are hungry for change
Updated at 7:10 p.m.
The Associated Press exit poll shows Georgia voters casting ballots on racial lines. Here's a snippet:
Of the 6 in 10 voters who said they were white, nearly three-quarters voted for Trump. Of the third of voters identifying as black, about nine in 10 cast ballots for Clinton. Youth heavily favored Clinton, with more than 6 in 10 of the 18-to-29 year olds voting for the Democrat. Older groups were more evenly divided though among voters 65 and older, more than 6 in 10 cast ballots for Trump. Among college graduates, about half voted for Clinton, while about half of those who said they had no college degree went for Trump.
Updated at 6:10 p.m.:
Plenty of interesting nuggets in ABC News' exit polls. Here are some of the highlights:
- Candidate negatives -- If Hillary Clinton's Achilles heel is her emails and Donald Trump's is his treatment of women, then the latter appears to have cost him more with voters. ABC's survey said 51 percent of voters are bothered a lot by Trump's treatment of women, while 44 percent said the same about Clinton's email problems.
- Decision timing -- One in four voters didn't make their final decision about who they would support in the presidential race until this month.
- Important issues -- More than half of voters, 52 percent, indicated jobs/the economy was their top issue in the presidential race this year, although voters split almost evenly about whether Clinton or Trump was better equipped to handle it. A little less than one in five labeled terrorism as their most important issue, while 12 percent said the same about immigration.
Original post -- 5:26 p.m.:
A round of early exit polls released Tuesday show nearly 40 percent of voters said they want a candidate who can bring change to Washington, though more than half approve of President Barack Obama’s job performance.
About eight in 10 said they were at least somewhat confident that the results of the election would be counted accurately.
A POLITICO/Morning Consult exit poll shows a pessimistic mood – and more voters seeking a strong leader than in previous presidential votes.
Asked what characteristic is most important for the next president, 36 percent of voters say they want a "strong leader," 29 percent want "a vision for the future," 16 percent want someone who "cares about people like me" and another 16 percent said they want someone who "shares my values."
The percentage of voters thus far who say they want a strong leader – a characterization Donald Trump's team made central to his campaign – is twice the percentage who said they were looking for a strong leader in the 2012 National Election Pool exit poll.
Read more of the AJC’s election coverage:
About the Author
Tamar Hallerman is an award-winning senior reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She covers the Fulton County election interference case and co-hosts the Breakdown podcast.
