News from the world – United States – AP VoteCast: Wisconsin voters embittered over state of the nation

Voters in Wisconsin gave Democratic candidate Joe Biden his 10 electoral votes while having negative views on the country’s leadership and economy, according to a large AP poll of the US electorate

The race between President Donald Trump and Biden ended on Tuesday as the country grapples with a once-in-a-century pandemic and severe economic recession AP VoteCast found that nearly 4 in 10 Wisconsin voters have said the US is on the right track and 6 out of 10 voters say it is going in the wrong direction

AP called Biden the winner of Wisconsin Trump campaign said it plans to demand a recount

Here’s a look at who voted and what matters to them, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of approximately 133,000 voters and non-voters – including 3,506 voters and 593 non-voters in Wisconsin – conducted for the Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago

Trump had hoped to repeat his 2016 victory by winning the state’s 10 electoral votes by less than 23,000 votes, or roughly 1% His victory in what was once part of a solid Democratic voting « blue wall » states of the Midwest and Great Lakes was a first for a Republican presidential candidate in more than two decades

Biden had an advantage over Trump among voters under 45, but older voters while older voters modestly preferred Trump

« America first, let’s go, » said David Danke, a 64-year-old retiree who voted for Trump in Kenosha. « Keep jobs in this country »

Biden had an advantage over Trump among suburban voters City voters more likely to prefer Biden Small town and rural voters more likely to prefer Trump over Biden

Wisconsin has the third highest number of coronavirus cases per capita in the country and its death toll recently exceeded 2,000

Overall, more than one in 10 voters said the virus was present in the US is completely or almost completely under control, and about a quarter said it was somewhat under control About 6 voters in 10 think the coronavirus is not at all under control in this country

Eric Engstrom, a 31-year-old investment analyst in Madison, Wisconsin, who voted by mail for Biden, said the virus was the most immediate threat to the country

« My wife and I were walking around talking about how we’re expecting a baby in January and seeing hospitals fill up, even thinking about the potential of one or both of us. ‘being sick when the baby was born… The response to that has been appalling, « he said » If there was any chance that I would go and vote for Trump, he was eliminated because of the pandemic  »

Fears of catching the virus help explain why so many Wisconsin voters chose to return mail-in ballots this year Even before election day, more than 8 million had already voted this way , more than half of the total votes cast in the 2016 election

The coronavirus pandemic was at the center of the concerns of many Wisconsin voters More than 4 in 10 said it was the most significant problem the country faces today

Voters also viewed the economy as a major problem, with around 3 in 10 saying it ranked first

Nearly one in 10 health facilities named, less than one in 10 named racism and less than one in 10 named law enforcement

Trump visited Wisconsin several times during his campaign, warning supporters of an October rally that Democrats were trying to “destroy the American way of life.” He emphasized his public order message on a previous visit to Kenosha, after protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake

During his own visit to Kensoha, Biden met the Blake family and expressed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement

Voters were more negative than positive in their assessments of the national economy Overall, more than 4 in 10 described economic conditions in the US as excellent or good, and more than 5 in 10 rated it. qualified as bad or bad

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 54% in September, below the national rate but 2 points higher than a year ago

Amy Arntsen, 56, of Middleton, said she voted for Biden in part because she feared people would lose their jobs during the pandemic, and that she was not at all reassured by the rise in the stock market that the president has touted

« The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and poorer, » she says « The way we value the stock market above people is corrupt »

Of registered voters who chose not to vote in Wisconsin, a quarter said it was because they dislike politics in general, 2 in 10 said they dislike not the candidates and more than 1 in 10 said they liked him worried about being exposed to the coronavirus

In Wisconsin, 6 in 10 non-voters were under 45 and 8 in 10 did not have a college degree

AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for Fox News, NPR, PBS NewsHour, Univision News, USA Today Network, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press The survey among 3506 voters in Wisconsin was conducted for eight days, concluding with the close of the poll Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish The survey combines a random sample of registered voters drawn from the state electoral roll and self-identified registered voters selected from non-probable online panels The sampling error margin for voters is estimated to be plus or minus 2 percentage points For more details on the AP VoteCast methodology, go to https: // aporg / votecast

Joe Biden, Wisconsin, Associated Press, Nation