Ahead of the November election, voters overwhelmingly express the importance of several items related to voting access and the outcome of the election.
Wide majorities of voters say it is very or somewhat important that:
- People who are qualified to vote are able to cast a ballot (98%) and that people who try to intimidate or threaten voters at polling places are stopped (96%).
- People who are not legally qualified to vote are prevented from doing so (89%).
- It is clear who won after all votes are counted (98%) and that the outcome of the presidential race is known within a day or two (92%).
And while sizable majorities of supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both view these objectives as important, they tend to differ in how confident they are that each will happen.
Ballot access and voter intimidation
Nearly all Harris and Trump supporters (99% each) say it’s at least somewhat important that people who are legally qualified and want to vote are able to cast a ballot, while nearly as many say that it’s important that people who try to intimidate or threaten voters at polling places are stopped.
About nine-in-ten among each candidate’s supporters are also very or somewhat confident that eligible voters who want to cast a ballot will be able to do so.
Harris’ supporters are slightly more likely than Trump’s to express confidence that people trying to intimidate voters will be stopped (73% of Harris supporters vs. 64% of Trump supporters are at least somewhat confident).
A clear winner and timely outcome
Harris (99%) and Trump (98%) supporters are nearly unanimous in their belief that it’s at least somewhat important that it be clear who won the election after all votes are counted, with about nine-in-ten in each group saying this is very important.
But Trump supporters are much less likely than Harris supporters to express confidence that it will be clear who won.
While 58% of Trump supporters are very or somewhat confident it will be clear who won after all votes are counted, a much larger majority of Harris supporters (85%) are confident the result will be clear.
Large majorities of both Trump (95%) and Harris (89%) supporters say it is important that Americans know who won the race within days of Election Day. However, Trump supporters are more likely than Harris supporters to say this is very important (75% vs. 60%).
Harris supporters (69%) are more likely than Trump supporters (59%) to express confidence that the winner will be promptly known, although about four-in-ten each are only somewhat confident that this will happen.
Ensuring only eligible citizens cast ballots
Nearly identical majorities of all voters say it is very or somewhat important to stop noncitizens from voting (90%) and to prevent people who are not qualified to vote from doing so (89%).
While large shares of both Harris and Trump supporters view the prevention of ineligible voters from casting ballots as at least somewhat important, Trump supporters are more likely to say this is very important.
Harris supporters are far more confident than Trump supporters that people who are not legally qualified to vote will be prevented from voting.
- Harris supporters (87%) overwhelmingly express confidence that people who are not qualified to vote will be prevented from doing so, with 52% saying they’re very confident in this. Harris supporters express similar confidence that noncitizens will not be able to vote.
- By contrast, just 35% of Trump supporters are confident that noncitizens will be stopped from voting, while 30% say the same of blocking voting access for all those not legally qualified to vote.
How voters’ views today compare with opinions in 2020
Citizens casting ballots
As was the case in 2020, there is close agreement on the importance of eligible Americans who want to vote being able to cast a ballot.
But 2024 Harris supporters (89%) are more likely than 2020 Biden supporters (77%) to say they are at least somewhat confident this will happen. Trump supporters’ confidence on this item has changed little compared with four years ago.
Timeliness of the outcome
Voters today (92%) are more likely than voters in 2020 (82%) to say it’s important that Americans know the result of the presidential election quickly. This shift is concentrated among Democratic candidate supporters. Today, 89% of Harris supporters say it is very (60%) or somewhat (29%) important that this happens. That’s up from the 73% of Biden voters who said this was at least somewhat important in 2020.
But both Harris and Trump supporters are more likely to express confidence that this will happen than Biden and Trump supporters were in 2020.
While 69% of Harris supporters are at least somewhat confident that Americans will know the election results within a couple of days, 59% of Trump supporters are. This compares with about half of Biden and Trump supporters in 2020.
