AP Exit Poll: 80% of Voters Want ‘Substantial Change’ in How U.S. Is Run

Tens of thousands of voters nationwide ranked the economy, jobs, and immigration as their priority issues in an Associated Press Election Day exit poll — and the vast majority said they want “substantial change” in how the country is being run.

In the AP VoteCast poll, which surveyed more than 110,000 voters across the U.S., 40 percent of respondents considered the economy and jobs to be “the most important problem facing the country,” the outlet reported.

This is likely good for former President Donald Trump, with a New York Times and Siena College poll released on October 25 finding that 52 percent of likely voters trusted him to lead the economy compared to 45 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris. 

As voters exited the polls on Tuesday, roughly 20 percent said that their top issue was immigration, compared to just ten percent who said it was abortion.

Even more notably, about 80 percent of the voters said they want at least “substantial change,” and about 25 percent said they want a “complete and total upheaval,” the AP found. 

Considering that Harris is the second-highest in the current administration, those numbers do not bode well for her. 

However, just under six in ten respondents said they were at least somewhat concerned that another Trump administration would lead the U.S. closer to authoritarianism, whereas just under half said the same about Harris.

In the swing states, the top voter issues remained within five points of the national average — with abortion never surpassing 15 percent: