The vast majority of voters who say it is more important to contain the Chinese coronavirus than rebuild the economy support Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden, preliminary results from national and state exit polls conducted by Edison Research showed at the end of Election Day.
Meanwhile, most voters who say rebuilding the economy is more important than containing the virus support President Donald Trump.
Biden has indicated a willingness to reimpose virus-related lockdowns that devastated the economy earlier this year.
The former vice president has flip-flopped in the days leading to the election, claiming that he will not shut down the country.
Trump has been an ardent opponent of coronavirus lockdowns.
Citing Edison Research’s exit polls data, the Washington Post reported:
Voters were roughly divided over whether it is more important to contain the coronavirus or rebuild the economy, the preliminary results indicated. About half of voters said it is more important to contain the pandemic now, even if it hurts the economy, while 4 in 10 said that the rebuilding the economy is more important.
Of the voters (51 percent) who say containing the virus now is more important than the economy, 80 percent back Biden and 18 percent support Trump.
Conversely, of the voters (42 percent) who say rebuilding the economy is more important now, even to the detriment of efforts to contain the Chinese virus, 76 percent support Trump and 22 percent back Biden.
The data was current as of midnight on Election Day when this report was submitted for publication. According to the Post, pollsters will adjust the results as the vote count is updated.
“These surveys randomly sample voters as they exited voting places on or before Election Day and through a telephone survey of more than 25,000 early voters to help account for the huge increase of votes cast early,” the newspaper noted.