Election exit polls show large gender divide between Harris, Trump voters

WASHINGTON – The gender gap between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump persists amid voters who hit the polls on Tuesday, according to exit polls.

More than half (54%) of Harris’ supporters are women, with 44% men, according to national exit polls from CNN. Among Trump, 54% of his supporters are men while 43% are women.

The former president was also able to cut into Democrats’ support among Latino voters.

Exit polls show that 53% of Latino voters support Harris while 45% support Trump. In 2020, President Joe Biden had the support of 65% of Latino voters compared to Trump at 32%, according to a CNN exit poll from 2020.

Trump was able to cut into support among Latino men, in particular, the CNN preliminary exit polls found. More than half (54%) of Latino men support Trump but only 45% support Harris. Four years ago, those numbers were nearly flipped. Fifty-nine percent of Latino men supported Biden in 2020, while 36% of Latino men supported Trump, according to 2020 exit polls.

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The state of democracy and the economy were the biggest concerns on the minds of voters as they headed to the polls on Tuesday, according to a series of exit polls also found.

What was the top issue for voters?

More than one-third of voters in a CNN exit poll said democracy was their top issue, while about three in 10 cited the economy. Abortion and immigration were next on the voters’ list of concerns. Fewer than 5% cited foreign policy as their top issue.

In ABC News’ exit polls, more than one third (35%) of voters ranked democracy as their top issue from five that were tested. Economy followed at 31%, abortion at 14% and immigration at 11%. Only 4% of voters said foreign policy was their top issue.

But the top issues among those supporting Harris and Trump differ.

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Roughly half (51%) of voters who support Trump said the economy was their top issue, followed by immigration at 20%, according to exit polls from CBS News. But among voters supporting Harris, more than half (56%) said the state of democracy was their top issue. Abortion was the second top issue at 21%.

Only one-third of voters in the CNN poll said the economy is in good or excellent shape. Another one-third say the economy is not so good, and another third it’s poor. Just one-quarter said they’re personally better off than they were four years ago. About 45% said they are worse off. About three in 10 reported they’re doing about the same.

Three-quarters of voters in the CNN poll held negative views of the way things are going in the United States. Just one-quarter said they were enthusiastic or satisfied with the state of the nation. More than four in 10 said they were dissatisfied. Roughly three in 10 said they are angry.

At the same time, more than six in 10 voters said America’s best days are in the future. Just one-third suggested they are in the past.

A majority of voters already decided which candidate they were supporting months ago, CBS News exit polls show. Roughly 8 in 10 said they knew before September.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election exit polls show big gender divide between Harris, Trump voters