In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s ruling, we’ve seen the first wave of polls trying to measure where voters’ priorities are now and what that means for the next election. Early results suggest a surge in concerns about abortion and women’s rights, with Democratic attention specifically focused on this issue. At the same time, they find that most of the voters’ focus remains elsewhere for now.
What voters care about and how their priorities influence their decisions is too complex to be fully understood in a single voting question. To the extent that voters personally care about the issue, the issue is decided in the election by motivating someone to vote when they cannot vote otherwise, or by persuading another candidate to vote. It’s not the question of whether it’s a target or not. Otherwise than they have. However, by comparing the answers to different questions, you can get a broader, more nuanced picture.
Some ways pollsters ask about election issues, what we can and cannot do about public opinion, and some early data on how the aftermath of Roe’s decision has been made so far. Let’s see what might suggest about.
question: The importance of the question (for example, “How important is this question to you?” Or “How important is this question to your vote?”)
This question can also reveal meaningful divisions and trends regarding the problem. For example, those who support policy reveal that they are more focused on policy than those who oppose it, and that a growing proportion of people are deeply interested in the topic. Rapidly in a short time.
As Gallup’s Lydia Saad and Megan Brenan pointed out, “The importance of gun policy and abortion to voting choices is much higher on record and is now even higher given what happened after the polls were completed. There is a possibility.”
question: Top-level issues (for example, “Which of these issues?” many Is it important to you? Or “Which is the most important issue for your vote?”)
What it can tell us: Letting people choose which problem comes to mind may be like an artificial constraint-many people care about multiple aspects of American politics-but it’s also voters. Helps you feel more keen about where your priorities are, the time of the survey, and how they differ between blocks. The answers to this question often reflect the issues that the campaign chooses to prioritize and the extent to which those efforts are resonating with the general public.
However, a smaller number of voters call abortion their primary concern. In a New York Times / Siena poll, only 5% of registered voters cite democracy or women’s rights as the only most important issue facing the country: economy (20%), inflation (15). %), Behind democracy and political division. (11%) and gun policy (10%).
question: The Lithomas exam (for example, “Given how this issue affects voting in major offices, do you only vote for candidates who share your opinion, or many important things when voting? Do you consider the candidate’s position as one of the key factors, or isn’t it? A big problem? “)
It is worth scrutinizing that Republicans and Democrats now consider abortion a crucial issue. According to the data provided by the PRRI, the percentage of Americans who consider abortion to be a Litmus test was the highest among those who matched abortion with the party. 16% among Republican supporters of abortion rights. (Too few Democrats against abortion to look at these numbers individually in the survey.) Similar proportions of abortion supporters (26%) and opponents (23%) are politically independent. Among them, their view on the issue states that they will only vote for shared candidates.
question: Relative Possibility of Voting (For example, “Does the news on this issue make you more likely to vote in the next election?”)
That tells us: The Lithomas exam questions are intended to help you understand the likelihood that people will vote based solely on a particular question, but this question is about how the latest news about a question affects people’s voting potential. Try to measure what you do.
Unfortunately, it’s not a simple and intuitive question. To answer literally, respondents need to do a series of complex mental arithmetic. Recalling the possibility that I used to think I would vote, and considering the impact of news on my motivation level, I calculate the relative difference (“previously”, I was only 76% likely to vote. , Now at least 83%! “)
That disparity is a good reason to answer them with a grain of salt. However, it is worth noting that in both questions, the Democrats were much more likely than the Republicans to say that this issue made them more likely to vote. It doesn’t necessarily predict much about turnout, but it’s another sign that this issue is a much stronger resonance among Democrats.
Source: www.cnn.com