For respondents of the November 2024 Harvard CAPS/Harris poll who said they didn’t vote in the recent presidential election, lack of motivation, at 28%, was the highest reason they gave for staying home. More than a fifth cited believing their vote didn’t matter (23%) or not liking any candidates (22%) as the primary reason.
Some voters also stayed away because they could not get away due to family (10%) or work (7%) obligations. The difficulty of the voting process was the main reason that 8% of respondents didn’t participate in the election.
For those who did vote, 81% said they followed the election closely during the campaign season.
Despite the attention newer forms of media have received, almost half (46%) of respondents cited broadcast (cable and network) news outlets as their primary information source. Less than a quarter (23%) cited social media, and only 4% said podcasts were their primary source of information about the election.
In anticipation of the second Trump administration, more than two-thirds of all voters (68%), including 57% of Democrats and 81% of Republicans, cite ending inflation as their primary hope for the 47th President.
Around a third of respondents (32%) cited social issues such as ending “wokeness” and “establishing the role of merit over diversity” as some of their highest hopes.
Almost half of Americans (46%) fear Trump behaving like a dictator in his second term. Not surprisingly, this is split among partisan lines, with 74% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans expressing this concern.
The survey was taken two weeks after the election. More results and the survey’s methodology can be found here.
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.