Nearly 80 Percent of American Voters are Angry, Fearful or Sad According to New Poll
Research Also Shows Central Europe is Watching the U.S. on Election Night
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventy-six percent of American voters are experiencing anger (32 percent), fear (31 percent), and sadness (13 percent) according to a new Cygnal and Lounge Group poll. More so, two-thirds of voters think the nation is on the wrong track. These overwhelmingly negative feelings are fairly consistent across all U.S. demographic groups.
The political issues evoking these negative emotions include — in order — the coronavirus pandemic, the economic downturn, and civil unrest spreading across America's cities. While Americans want leaders to focus on the same political issues causing the most emotional unrest— recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, creating jobs and restoring the economy, and law and order —they are also firm in how they want a presidential candidate to make them feel.
"Voters want someone who makes them feel trust and joy, while inciting a little bit of anger. They want someone reliable yet who is upset enough to actually do something about the challenges facing the nation," said Brent Buchanan, Cygnal Founder and CEO. "This is because people are angry with what's going on in their country and they want candidates to share that anger to do something about all the issues facing the nation."
Eighty-six percent of American respondents are certain that they will vote in November's election. At the time the poll was conducted, President Trump trailed Democratic contender Joe Biden by only 7 points.
Interestingly, the poll also surveyed Hungarians about the upcoming U.S. Presidential election. The clear majority of Hungarians know Donald Trump is currently the President of the United States, but only a third of the respondents knew the name of his challenger. Similarly, Hungarians say Donald Trump will be the winner (39 percent to 27 percent expecting Biden to win with one-third of undecided respondents).
"It's clear other countries are paying close attention to what will happen on Election night in America as our polling of Hungarian voters showed," said Lounge Group Founder and CEO Gyula Balásy. "The population in the two countries have different politico-cultural backgrounds, which is manifested in the research results as well. We also wanted to examine - does an American and Hungarian voter think and decide differently?"
For example, Americans are so worried about the economy that "the country's economic stability" was selected by more people than "my family's health" or "my family's safety" when asked to identify their main worry. Yet Hungarians are most worried about the health of their family.
The similarity between the two countries is that the freedom to make choices ranked most important by people in both countries. Additionally, most on the two sides of the ocean first come across public affairs in their family circles.
In political affiliation, twice as many Americans declare themselves to be conservative and liberal than Hungarians, who mainly place themselves in the middle.
"Yet while most likely American voters said they will vote based on principles and individual candidates over the party, the reality is people base their vote on the emotions the candidate and/or how the candidate's principals make them feel. These emotions are influenced by the voters' life experience and the people around them," said Buchanan. "That's why our poll with Lounge Group took into account the emotional state of voters."
As it relates to the economy and coronavirus in the U.S., the poll found:
- When it comes to the economy, voters are also feeling angry and afraid with women (anger: 39% / fear: 38%) more so than men (anger: 30% / fear: 25%). Voters age 50 and up are more afraid than younger ones (<50: 28% / 50+: 36%).
- Creating jobs and restoring the economy is more important to Republicans than Democrats.
- Law and order is more important to older people than younger ones.
- The Midwest is more concerned about the economy than the West.
- Despite the increased chance of catching the coronavirus in high-density areas, people living in the suburbs are more afraid than people living in urban areas (suburban: 49% / urban: 40%).
- Fifty-three percent of women are afraid of the coronavirus, compared to 35 percent of men. Voters 50 and older are more afraid than younger ones (<50: 38% / 50+: 51%).
Poll top-lines can be found here and here.
METHODOLOGY: This probabilistic survey was conducted September 5, 2020 – September 7, 2020, with 2,000 likely general election voters. It has a margin of error of ±2.19%. This survey was weighted to a likely general election universe while Századvég Research Institute surveyed a sample of 500 people in Hungary.
Cygnal is an award-winning national public opinion and predictive analytics firm that pioneered multi-mode polling, peer-to-peer text collection, and Political Emotive Analysis. Cygnal was recently named the #1 Republican private pollster by Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, as well as the #1 most accurate polling and research firm in the country for 2018 by The New York Times.
Lounge Group is a Hungarian-based firm offering 360-degree integrated marketing solutions. The agency group has been present on the Hungarian market for 16 years, and has been an inevitable participant in the domestic market with its team understanding and supporting the operation of various sectors. Thanks to its dynamic growth, through its companies specialized in various services, it has become one of the largest cooperative partners of domestic market and state companies, government and public administration institutions. With experienced professionals, the company group designs and implements complex strategic communication, marketing, media management and event organization tasks, ranging from market research through strategy development and branding to complete communication, organization and creative management in uniformly high quality. Beside numerous local awards, the company was awarded the Golden City Gate and the Eventex Awards several times.
Contact:
Monica McCafferty, 303.903.3394, [email protected]
SOURCE Lounge Group
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