Many Americans believe a lot is on the line this election cycle—and they plan to be involved.
According to a new SurveyMonkey/theSkimm/Hive poll, approximately 62% of Americans believe that the 2018 midterm elections are more important than other midterms in their lifetime. Just 6% feel they are less important and one-third (30%) believe they are just as important as previous midterm elections.
The perceived importance of the election appears to have an impact on the likelihood that Americans will vote as well. Two-thirds (67%) of those polled said they are “absolutely certain to vote.” Those that responded that they will “probably” vote, are undecided, or do not plan to vote each represented 10% of respondents or less.
And the reason that a majority of those polled plan to vote? Largely President Trump. Roughly 58% said that Trump’s election made it more likely that they would vote, and 32% said his election had no impact on their voting behavior.
Among those who said they are unlikely to vote in November, 18% feel that their vote won’t make a difference, while 12% say they are “too busy” to vote. Approximately 11% say that they don’t plan to vote because they don’t like the candidates, while 10% are simply not registered. But the number one response among non-voters was that they didn’t know enough about the candidate or issue, with 27% providing that as their reason.
Yet those that believe they don’t know enough to vote do not necessarily appear willing to inform themselves. Approximately 27% of those polled said that they “don’t trust anything,” whether it be news outlets, nonpartisan websites, candidate’s websites, or social media to give accurate information on what a candidate believes. But among the rest, Americans overall are more likely to trust news sources (33%) or nonpartisan websites like Headcount.org (29%) than friends and family (11%) or social media (13%).
Of course, Americans are wont to overstate their voting intentions. How important this election really is to voters will only be clear after they cast their ballots in November—or fail to turn up at the polls.
