WASHINGTON (AP) – Most Americans have many emotions heading into Election Day, but excitement isn’t one of them.
Roughly 7 in 10 Americans report feeling anxious or dissatisfied with the 2024 presidential campaign, and a similar proportion are concerned, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The answer is yes.
Only about a third said they were excited.
In the final week of the campaign, uncertainty is growing over the 2024 presidential election. The race is competitive nationally and in key battleground states, with neither Democrat Kamala Harris nor Republican Donald Trump showing a measurable lead, according to recent polls. At the same time, both candidates offered stark contrasts to each other in their closing arguments, with Harris arguing that Trump is obsessed with revenge and his own personal desires, while Trump At the rally, he called Harris a “train wreck.” The one who destroyed everything in her path. ”
Even though that election took place in the midst of a deadly pandemic, some groups feel even more anxious than they did four years ago. A 2020 AP-NORC poll found that about two-thirds of Americans feel anxious about the election, but this is not statistically significant based on the new results. However, for partisans, the level of anxiety is a little higher. About 8 in 10 Democrats say anxiety describes their current feelings, up slightly from about three-quarters in the last election. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans are worried, a modest increase from about 6 in 10 in 2020.
Independents, by contrast, have seen no meaningful change and are less anxious than Democrats or Republicans. Similar to the 2020 survey results, approximately half of respondents said they felt anxious.
Other emotions, such as excitement, are also more intense than in past election cycles. About a third of Americans report being excited about the 2024 election race, up from about a quarter in 2016. However, a majority of Americans say they are not excited about this year’s election campaign.
But one thing is pretty consistent. That’s the level of dissatisfaction Americans have with the campaign. Roughly 7 in 10 Americans say irritability describes their emotional state, as it did in 2020.
But for those Americans, there is light on the horizon and the election will soon be over.
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The poll of 1,233 adults was conducted between October 24 and 29, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Implemented. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
