{"id":11184,"date":"2018-11-29T12:01:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T17:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/in-midterm-voting-decisions-policies-took-a-back-seat-to-partisanship\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:15:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:15:01","slug":"in-midterm-voting-decisions-policies-took-a-back-seat-to-partisanship","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2018\/11\/29\/in-midterm-voting-decisions-policies-took-a-back-seat-to-partisanship\/","title":{"rendered":"In midterm voting decisions, policies took a back seat to partisanship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters\u2019 choices in this month\u2019s midterm elections, with far fewer citing policies as the main reason why they voted for Democratic or Republican candidates.<\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-309004 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/FT_18.11.29_OpenEnds_for-democratic-voters-dot-plot.png?w=420\" alt=\"For Democratic voters, as many say congressional vote was in opposition to GOP as in support of Democrats\" width=\"420\" height=\"574\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although partisan motivations dominated across the board, the tone of these partisan motivations differed somewhat between Republican and Democratic voters, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Nov. 7-13.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked an open-ended question about why they voted as they did, 36% of those who voted for the Democratic candidate in their district cited opposition to President Donald Trump, the Republican Party or the GOP\u2019s candidate as the main reason for their vote \u2013 about the same share (37%) as said they were motivated primarily by support for their own party or party\u2019s candidate. (For more on reactions to the election and expectations for the new Congress, see <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2018\/11\/15\/public-expects-gridlock-deeper-divisions-with-changed-political-landscape\/\">\u201cPublic Expects Gridlock, Deeper Divisions With Changed Political Landscape.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In contrast, 47% of Republican voters mentioned support of the GOP, Trump or the Republican candidate in their district, while fewer (28%) mentioned opposition to the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A substantial share of Democratic voters who cited opposition as a factor \u2013 about one-in-five Democratic voters (21%) \u2013 said their vote was mainly in opposition to Donald Trump. By comparison, only about one-in-ten Republican voters (9%) said their vote was mainly in support of the president.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican voters were more likely than Democrats to cite policies or national conditions as factors in their voting decisions (17% vs. 9%). While economic policies were mentioned by 10% of Republican voters, only 2% explicitly mentioned \u201cthe good economy\u201d as the main reason they voted for a Republican candidate. Just 9% of Democratic voters cited policies as the main factor in their vote, with 5% mentioning health care.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About one-in-ten Democratic voters said the main reason for their vote was to \u201cchange America\u201d (6%) or to increase \u201cchecks and balances\u201d (4%) in government.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><\/em><\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-309014\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_quotes1.png?w=640\" alt=\"Voices: What's the main reason you voted for ___ Party's candidate for Congress?\" width=\"640\" height=\"1024\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note: See full <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/FT_18.11.29_RDVoting_Topline.pdf\">topline results<\/a> and methodology <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2018\/11\/15\/methodology-210\/\">here<\/a> (PDF).\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters\u2019 choices in this month\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-10-26T19:11:05Z","apple_news_api_id":"7a0aaba3-d7a0-4d1f-a9c7-997b63300a97","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-10-26T19:11:05Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Aegqro9egTR-px5l7YzAKlw","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,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[418],"bylines":[935,989,870],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-11184","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-political-polarization","bylines-amina-dunn","bylines-carroll-doherty","bylines-john-laloggia","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":322,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2018\/11\/29\/in-midterm-voting-decisions-policies-took-a-back-seat-to-partisanship\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=640&h=360&crop=1","width":640,"height":360,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":21412,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/11\/PP_18.11.27_OpenEnds_feature.png?w=640&h=360&crop=1","width":640,"height":360,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Policies took back seat to partisanship in midterm voting decisions","description":"Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters\u2019 choices in this month\u2019s midterms.","og_title":"In midterm voting decisions, policies took a back seat to partisanship","og_description":"Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters\u2019 choices in this month\u2019s midterms.","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"twitter_title":"In midterm voting decisions, policies took a back seat to partisanship","twitter_description":"Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters\u2019 choices in this month\u2019s midterms.","og_image":21412,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[{"key":"512a6c6b3bba2ad721f4205bb540da4a","termId":935},{"key":"9361116caa20b6c75e36b9ab59636e7c","termId":870},{"key":"c78d5f06e358476b886b138e9f7b1b0b","termId":989}],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/11184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/short-read"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/11184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101943,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/11184\/revisions\/101943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=11184"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=11184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}