Fewer than one in ten voters made up their minds in the last week before Election Day, according to an exit poll of the 2024 presidential election conducted for CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC on Tuesday.
In contrast, eight in ten voters said that they had made up their minds before September — the traditional start of the presidential campaign season.
CNN reported:
Eight in 10 voters say they made their decision about the presidential race sometime before September. Fewer than 1 in 10 say they decided in the past week, with about one-eighth saying they decided in September or October.
Similar majorities of those backing Vice President Kamala Harris and those supporting former President Donald Trump – about 80% – say they decided before September.
The results tend to deflate speculation about the effect of late-breaking controversies in the campaign, so-called “October surprises” — such as a joke about Puerto Rico by a comedian at a rally for former President Donald Trump, or President Joe Biden’s claim that Trump supporters are “garbage.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign was said to be counting on “late deciders,” which could also bode ill for her campaign, given that there are so few of them.
However, results in some battleground states could be so close that even a few late deciders could make a difference.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.