CNN Exit Poll: Majority of Voters Negative About Country Direction

A new CNN exit poll conducted by Edison Research showed that a majority of voters in the 2022 midterm election had a negative view of President Joe Biden and a negative view of the country’s direction.

“More than 7 in 10 said they were less than satisfied with the way things are going in the country, with about one-third saying they were not just dissatisfied but angry with the state of the nation,” CNN noted.

Roughly 39 percent of voters said that they were “dissatisfied” with the direction of the country while 34 percent admitted to feeling angry about the direction of the country. Only five percent of those polled expressed enthusiasm.

As to which issue mattered most to voters this election, the poll showed that inflation ranked the highest of all issues at 32 percent while abortion trailed closely at 27 percent. Crime stood at just 12 percent alongside gun policy. Immigration ranked the lowest at 10 percent.

President Biden has a 45 percent approval rating, according to the poll, which CNN noted is “nearly identical to then-Donald Trump’s 45% approval rating four years ago among 2018 midterm voters,” with voters being twice as likely in this election to “strongly disapprove of Biden as they were to strongly approve of him.”

“Just shy of half of voters this year said that Biden’s policies are mostly hurting the country, with about 36 percent saying his policies are mostly helping” CNN added. “Many voters didn’t see their congressional vote as a referendum on the president – close to half said that Biden was not a factor in their vote.”

The 2022 CNN Exit Polls were conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the National Election Pool and were based on random samplings at 250 polling locations with roughly 12,458 respondents and a margin of error plus or minus two percentage points.

Heading into election day, all reports indicated that Republicans would retain a U.S. House majority.