US midterm election exit polls: Donald Trump's polarising presidency a BIG influence on voters

Donald Trump at a rally in Indiana
AP

Donald Trump has been a dominant force in the midterm elections as attitudes towards the polarising president influenced decisions of more than half of all voters, exit polls have showed.

Almost 40 per cent of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the US leader, while about 20 per cent said they stepped out to support Mr Trump, according to VoteCast.

Exiting polling from news network CNN showed that more than half (56 per cent) said the country is on the “wrong track”, compared to the 41 per cent saying it is going in the right direction.

The figures come as the first polls closed for the elections, widely considered a referendum on the president, in a dramatic fight for Congress results began to emerge early on Wednesday.

Donald Trump at the rally in Tennessee 
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

While Mr Trump is not on the ballot, his controversial presidency has animated voters on both sides of the aisle, with 2018 likely to set turnout records for a midterm election.

Democrats have been activated in opposition to Mr Trump since the moment of his election, while in recent weeks the president has driven Republicans to the polls by trying to cast the race a referendum on his administration.

The outcomes of the races stand to alter the course of the Trump presidency.

The snapshot of who voted and why comes from preliminary results of VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 113,000 voters and about 20,000 nonvoters conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.

The US has gone to the polls for the 2018 midterms
AFP/Getty Images

Democrats looking to seize control of Congress have pinned their hopes on women and minority voters, while Republicans have hoped to retain majorities by preserving support among the bloc of voters who propelled Trump to the White House in 2016.

According to VoteCast, women voted considerably more in favour of their congressional Democratic candidate: About 6 in 10 voted for the Democrat, compared with 4 in 10 for the Republican. Men, by contrast, were more divided in their vote.

Urbanites voted almost 2 to 1 in favour of Democrats, and small-town and rural voters cast votes for the Republicans by a smaller margin.

In suburban areas where key House races will be decided, voters skewed significantly toward Democrats by a nearly 10-point margin.

Anti-Trump protesters demonstrate on November 4
Getty Images

Non-white voters cast ballots for Democrats by a roughly 3-to-1 margin.

Democrats need to gain a net of at least 23 seats in the House and two seats in the Senate to win majorities in the respective chambers.

Both parties' closing messages appeared to have animated their respective bases, according to VoteCast, with health care and immigration each described as the most important issues in the election by about 25 percent of voters.

Of those who listed health care as the most important issue facing the nation, about 3 in 4 voted for the Democratic candidate. About the same percentage who described immigration as the most important issue cast ballots for the Republican.

Opposition to Trump proved to be more a motivating factor for Democrats than support for the president a factor for Republicans. Still, Republican voters tended to be overwhelmingly supportive of the president.

More voters disapproved of Trump's job performance than approved - a finding that is largely consistent with recent polling.

Similar figures emerged in CNN’s polling, with some 44 per cent aproving of Mr Trump, and 55 per cent disapproving, according to voters in the network’s exit poll.

The same poll showed that 47 per cent of voters "strongly disapprove" of the president’s performance.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in