{"id":10305,"date":"2020-04-03T14:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/most-voters-say-postponing-presidential-primaries-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-has-been-necessary\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:18:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:18:08","slug":"most-voters-say-postponing-presidential-primaries-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-has-been-necessary","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/04\/03\/most-voters-say-postponing-presidential-primaries-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-has-been-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"Most voters say postponing presidential primaries amid COVID-19 outbreak has been necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figure id=\"attachment_361281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-361281\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-361281\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FT_20.04.03_PrimariesCOVID_feature.jpg\" alt=\"Most voters say postponing presidential primaries amid coronavirus outbreak has been necessary\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-361281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">County election workers hand out signs to put up at polling stations in Dayton, Ohio, after the state&#8217;s March 17 presidential primaries were canceled. (Megan Jelinger\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As several states postpone their presidential primaries amid the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/topics\/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19\/\">coronavirus outbreak<\/a>, most voters say the delay was a necessary move \u2013 and similar shares say they would personally feel uncomfortable going to a polling place to vote.<\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-361314\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FT_20.04.03_ElectionCOVID3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"411\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly seven-in-ten registered voters say postponing state primary elections has been a necessary step to address the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Pew Research Center survey. This includes about two-thirds of Republican voters (64%) and 71% of Democratic voters.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The survey, conducted March 19-24 \u2013 just after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ohio-delays-primary-coronavirus-governor-dewine-health-emergency\/\">Ohio announced it would delay its primary<\/a> \u2013 also finds that majorities of voters who are Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (68%) would personally feel uncomfortable visiting a polling place to cast their ballot. A smaller majority of Republicans and Republican leaners \u2013 who do not have a competitive primary this year \u2013 also say they would feel uncomfortable (58%). As of today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/2020-campaign-primary-calendar-coronavirus.html\">a total of 15 states<\/a> have delayed their primaries. Notably, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/federal-judge-declines-to-postpone-april-7-presidential-primaries-in-wisconsin\/2020\/04\/02\/2ff660b4-74dc-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html\">Wisconsin primary remains scheduled<\/a> for April 7.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more--><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"border-width:1px;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);--block-gap: inherit\" class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible has-background has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-border-color has-ui-beige-dark-border-color\" id=\"how-we-did-this\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/collapsible&quot;}\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;collapsibleId&quot;:&quot;how-we-did-this&quot;,&quot;isOpen&quot;:false}\" data-wp-class--is-open=\"context.isOpen\" data-wp-init--scroll-into-view=\"callbacks.onInitScrollIntoView\"><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__title\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.onClick\"><div>How we did this<\/div><button class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__icon\"><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"context.isOpen\"><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-plus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-plus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><span data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!context.isOpen\" hidden><i class=\"icon icon-library__light icon__circle-minus\"><svg style=\"width: 1em; height: 1em;\"><use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/plugins\/prc-icon-library\/build\/icons\/sprites\/light.svg#circle-minus\"><\/use><\/svg><\/i><\/span><\/button><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-prc-block-collapsible__content\"><h1 id=\"how-we-did-this\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How we did this<\/h1><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To examine how the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted voters\u2019 views about voting and elections, we surveyed 11,537 U.S. adults (including 9,617 registered voters) from March 19 to 24, 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/methods\/u-s-survey-research\/american-trends-panel\/\">ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/PP_2020.03.26_Coronavirus-Impact_TOPLINE.pdf\">the questions used<\/a> in this analysis, along with responses, and its <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2020\/03\/26\/coronavirus-impact-methodology\/\">methodology<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2020\/03\/26\/coronavirus-impact-appendix\/\">See this appendix <\/a>for an explanation of how states were categorized by COVID-19 impact.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-361280\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FT_20.04.03_ElectionCOVID_2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" height=\"716\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About three-quarters of Democratic voters living in states where the presidential primary had been delayed as of the survey period say postponement was necessary. A somewhat narrower majority of Democrats in states that already conducted their primaries (68%) say this.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are only modest differences among voters in their comfort level with going to a polling place.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Women voters express more discomfort with visiting a polling place than men (70% vs. 56%, respectively). Younger voters are also slightly more likely to say they would be uncomfortable going to a polling place to vote amid the current outbreak.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Large shares of white, black and Hispanic voters express discomfort with the idea of casting a ballot in person, but Hispanic voters are the most likely to say they would be uncomfortable (72% vs. 62% of black and white voters).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voters in the states hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak at the time the survey was fielded are also slightly more likely to express discomfort with going to the polls: 66% say this, compared with 60% among the states that had seen less of an impact.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly seven-in-ten registered voters say postponing state primary elections has been a necessary step to address the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-01-04T18:20:28Z","apple_news_api_id":"2f81d335-318e-41c6-9521-30b3def7922b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-04T18:20:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AL4HTNTGOQcaVITCz3veSKw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"b3a7c9e0abb7dabbcf3fea280a7c922d","termId":838},{"key":"24b5da9665e185ea07920c373e431200","termId":905}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[448,381,40,51,420],"bylines":[905,838],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520,519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-10305","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-coronavirus-disease-covid-19","category-covid-19-politics","category-election-2020","category-election-system-voting-process","category-u-s-democracy","bylines-bradley-jones","bylines-hannah-hartig","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short 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