The best antidote to hot takes is hard data, and the November Daily Kos/Civiqs poll is here with your cure. This month’s survey of 1,560 registered voters was conducted online from Nov. 9-13 and reveals just how worried Americans are about foreign interference in the 2020 elections.
A staggering 73% of Americans believe that foreign governments will try to meddle in next year’s elections. Most Americans (53%) also believe the Trump administration is not doing enough to ensure the 2020 elections are free of foreign interference.
Other noteworthy findings in this month’s poll include:
- A whopping 83% of Americans support federal criminal background checks on all gun sales.
- Most Americans support a national buyback program for assault weapons (47% support vs. 43% opposed), and support for universal background checks is high across party lines: 71% of Republicans support them, along with 78% of independents.
- A dismaying 65% of Republicans would refuse to vote for a Muslim presidential candidate. Large numbers of Republican voters would also not vote for a presidential candidate who was an atheist (49%), or gay or lesbian (35%).
Additional issues surveyed include Americans’ attitudes towards their current health insurance plans; the impact of gender, religion, and economic status on voters’ likelihood to support a presidential candidate; and Fox News and MSNBC viewership.
November’s findings reaffirm Americans’ well-established support for the most basic common-sense gun safety measure: universal background checks on gun sales. Support for other gun policies, however, remains sharply divided along party lines: While 80% of Democrats support a national buyback program for assault weapons, just 16% of Republicans do.
This month’s survey also demonstrates that Republicans’ voting decisions are significantly impacted by political candidates’ religious views.
Fully 49% of Republicans would not vote for an atheist presidential candidate. If a presidential contender were Muslim, a staggering 65% of Republicans would oppose them. Many Republicans also say they would not vote for a woman candidate (10%), or that it would bother them to do so (7%).
Civiqs is a survey research firm that conducts scientific public opinion polls on the internet through its nationally representative online survey panel. Results of Civiqs’ daily tracking polls can be found online at civiqs.com.