As U.S. election polls begin to close, voters say these are top issues – National

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

As U.S. election polls begin to close, voters say these are top issues – National

The economy, immigration and the state of democracy were among the top issues driving Americans to the polls Tuesday to vote in the race between U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, according to exit polls in the U.S. election.

Preliminary exit poll results for the Associated Press, CNN, NBC and other major U.S. media outlets were released hours before the first polls were set to close in the highly-consequential election that will determine control of the White House and Congress.

Those exit polls also showed a highly anxious electorate, with large majorities of voters surveyed expressing negative views of the current state of the country.

About three-quarters of voters surveyed in the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 exit polls said they were disappointed and even ****** about how things were going in the country. Yet CNN’s poll noted that over 60 per cent of respondents believe “America’s best days are in the future.”

Story continues below advertisement

The exit polls found between three and four in 10 voters ranked economy as their top issue in this election, followed by around 20 per cent who said immigration. Between 10 and 20 per cent said ********* was their number one issue.

Yet the same polls all found the future of democracy outweighed all those issues as a motivator for voting. Across each exit poll, more than a third to half of voters said democracy was the single most important factor.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

5:18
2024 U.S. Election: Breaking down the key states on voting day

Tens of millions of Americans on Tuesday added their ballots to the 84 million cast early as they chose between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the country. Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Multiple ***** threats reported at polling places in critical states like Georgia were deemed to be hoaxes emanating from Russian email accounts, according to the FBI.

Story continues below advertisement

Turnout is expected to be high and could break the record set in the 2020 election, when over 66 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

The extremely close race is expected to come down to seven battleground or swing states that will decide the winner of the Electoral College, which is used to elect the U.S. president. Trump and Harris have focused most of their time campaigning in those states, particularly Pennsylvania but also Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada.

More on World
More videos

A result may not be declared Tuesday night due to how close the race is and how long it could take to count millions of mail-in ballots, which in some states could not be opened until Election Day. In 2020, which saw a steep increase in mail-in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic that overwhelmed some counting stations, a winner was not declared until four days later.

Harris stands to be the first female president if elected and has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by U.S. President Joe Biden. Trump has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on all foreign imports, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Trending Now

• Iranian woman detained after shedding clothes on Tehran campus

• 5 key U.S. election turning points Canadians should watch for

Either result would have major implications for Canada, particularly on the economy and immigration but also on foreign policy.

Story continues below advertisement

Canada is also bracing for the possibility of unrest and ********* in the days following the vote.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

2:16
Trump, Harris push into swing states as election night looms

Trump, who has frequently spread false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election and whose supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, posted claims of “cheating” in Pennsylvania without evidence on his Truth Social media account as voting continued Tuesday.

In response, Pennsylvania District Attorney Larry Krasner said there is “no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation.”

“If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath,” Krasner said in a statement provided by his office.

Harris, who had earlier sent in her ballot by mail to her home state of California, spent some of Tuesday in radio interviews encouraging listeners to vote.

Story continues below advertisement

National exit poll results provide an important window into the thinking of the nation, but may not directly align with the seven battleground states expected to decide the presidential election.

Exit polls capture variations among turnout in various demographic groups, such as men vs. women voters or college-educated vs. non-college educated voters, and can provide insights into how turnout has changed from past elections.

One key advantage of exit polls is all the people surveyed are people who cast ballots in this election.

—with files from the Associated Press and Reuters

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#U.S #election #polls #close #voters #top #issues #National

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up