A majority of voters casting midterm election ballots in Hawaii said the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate.
As voters cast ballots for governor, U.S. Senate and members of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, AP VoteCast found that 25 percent of Hawaii voters said the country is on the right track, compared with 75 percent who said the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Here’s a snapshot of who voted and why in Hawaii, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, an innovative nationwide survey of about 139,000 voters and nonvoters — including 772 voters and 198 nonvoters in the state of Hawaii — conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
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RACE FOR SENATE
In the race for Senate, Democrat Mazie Hirono was preferred over Republican Ron Curtis among voters under 45; in addition, those ages 45 and older were more likely to support Hirono.
Voters with a college education favored Hirono. In addition, voters without a college degree were more likely to support Hirono.
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RACE FOR GOVERNOR
Democrat David Ige had an apparent advantage over Republican Andria Tupola among voters under 45 in the race for governor. Voters ages 45 and older were more likely to support Ige.
Voters without a college degree leaned toward Ige. Likewise, college graduates were more likely to favor Ige.
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TOP ISSUES
Voters considered several issues to be important to their vote in this midterm election, including health care (23 percent), the economy (20 percent), immigration (14 percent), the environment (12 percent) and gun policy (9 percent).
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STATE OF THE ECONOMY
Views of economic conditions in the country are mixed — 54 percent of voters said the nation’s economy is not good, compared with 46 percent who said it’s good.
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TRUMP FACTOR
For 34 percent of Hawaii voters, President Donald Trump was not a factor they considered while casting their votes. By comparison, 13 percent said a reason for their vote was to express support for Trump, and 53 percent said they voted to express opposition to Trump.
A majority of voters in Hawaii had negative views of Trump: 74 percent said they disapprove of how he is handling his job as president, while 26 percent said they approve of Trump.
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CONTROL OF CONGRESS
Tuesday’s elections will determine control of Congress in the final two years of Trump’s first term in office, and 58 percent of Hawaii voters said which party will hold control was very important as they considered their vote. Another 25 percent said it was somewhat important.
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AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate in all 50 states conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for The Associated Press and Fox News. The survey of 772 voters and 198 nonvoters in Hawaii was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 6, concluding as polls close on Election Day. Interviews in English and Spanish with self-identified registered voters selected from opt-in online panels are calibrated with interviews of randomly sampled registered voters nationwide. The margin of sampling error for voters is estimated to be plus or minus 10.6 percentage points. Although there is no statistically agreed upon approach for calculating margins of error for non-probability samples, the margin of error is estimated using a calculation called the root mean squared error and other statistical adjustments. All surveys are subject to multiple sources of error, including from sampling, question wording and order, and nonresponse. Find more details about AP VoteCast’s methodology at http://www.ap.org/votecast.
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AP created this story automatically using data from NORC.
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For AP’s complete coverage of the U.S. midterm elections: http://apne.ws/APPolitics
Proof positive that Hawaii is a State of blithering idiots who are living a Dream, while wandering far away from reality. If the Country is heading in the wrong direction then I guess it’s because the unemployment rate is the lowest in decades, jobs are exploding, minorities and women unemployment is the lowest in decades, N. Korea is in reach, manufacturing jobs are flooding back to America, food stamps are at a low, fewer people are on welfare, the crime rate is decreasing, our borders are more secure, and consumer confidence is at a 30 year high!! I guess to those who don’t want a job or safer streets the economy is heading in the wrong direction? Buffoons!
Mr. Oswald.
Jobs are not EXPLODING, the borders are no safer than four years ago, crime is not down in all areas and consumer confidence is not at a 30 year high. A little more research helps clear your opinions up.
If you feel that Hawai’i is full of ‘Blithering Idiots’, Please feel free to call somewhere else home.