Poll Reveals Sharp Divide on Key Issues Between Democrats and Republicans
Washington, DC: A recent poll conducted by Ipsos and Langer Research for ABC News highlighted a substantial divide between Democrats and Republicans regarding the importance of key national issues, particularly on abortion and immigration.
The poll revealed that the “immigration situation at the U.S.-Mexico border” is seen as a highly important issue by 90% of Republican respondents. In contrast, 68% of independents and just 50% of Democrats considered immigration critical, indicating a 40-percentage-point gap between Republicans and Democrats on the topic.
Abortion similarly showed a significant divide, with 84% of Democrats identifying it as highly important, compared to 46% of Republicans and 55% of independents. This presents a 38-percentage-point difference between Democrats and Republicans. However, there was broader consensus on economic issues, with 96% of Republicans, 86% of Democrats, and 90% of independents marking the economy as highly important.
In terms of candidate support, Vice President Kamala Harris currently holds a narrow lead among both registered and likely voters. The survey found that she leads by 2 percentage points with registered voters and 4 points among likely voters, a margin comparable to President Joe Biden’s lead in 2020 exit polls.
The survey also examined voter perspectives on Harris’s fitness for office. It reported that 58% of registered voters believe Harris possesses the physical health necessary to serve effectively as president, compared to only 29% who felt similarly about former President Donald Trump. Additionally, respondents viewed Harris as more honest and trustworthy, mentally sharp, and empathetic to the issues facing ordinary Americans by significant margins.
On economic trust, however, Trump held an advantage: 48% of respondents trusted Trump over Harris (40%) in handling the economy. Yet Harris was seen as more trustworthy on issues like “looking out for the middle class” (45% versus 39% for Trump) and “protecting American democracy” (47% to 39%).
The poll indicated high levels of enthusiasm among both candidates’ supporters, with 88% of Harris’s supporters expressing enthusiasm about her candidacy and 85% of Trump’s supporters similarly enthusiastic. Harris’s campaign appeared to have a slight edge in battleground states, where 4% more respondents reported campaign contact from Harris’s team than from Trump’s.
Conducted online between October 18-22, the survey sampled 2,808 adults, including 2,392 registered voters and 1,913 likely voters. The margin of error was 2 percentage points for registered voters and 2.5 for likely voters.
Poll accuracy depends heavily on the margin of error, a statistic reflecting the confidence in the results’ representation of the general population. When a lead falls within this margin, as defined by Pew Research Center, it is referred to as a “statistical tie.”
