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| A "vote" pin decorates the sweater of ward clerk Lynn Lavigne as she opens absentee ballots for the New Hampshire primary, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at a polling place in Manchester, N.H. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Voters in New Hampshire's primary are deeply unhappy with
the federal government, and many Republican voters are down on
politicians from their own party, according to early results of the exit
poll conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and
television networks.
Republican voters say the
economy, government spending and terrorism are the most important
issues facing the country. Democratic primary voters say the economy and
income inequality are most important.
A closer look at the mood of the electorate:
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ANGER, BETRAYAL AND OUTSIDERS
Half
of Democratic voters said they're dissatisfied with the way government
is working, with another 1 in 10 saying they're angry. That's even
higher among Republican primary voters, with 9 in 10 voters saying
they're either dissatisfied or angry.
Republicans
are much more negative about their politicians than Democrats are about
theirs. Half of Republicans said they feel betrayed by politicians from
the Republican Party, while less than 2 in 10 Democrats say they feel
betrayed by Democratic politicians.
Republican
voters say they are more interested in nominating a candidate from
outside the political establishment than Democrats. Republicans are
evenly divided: nearly half preferred someone with experience and about
the same number say they favored an outsider. In comparison, about 7 in
10 Democrats said they want a candidate who has experience in politics;
about a quarter want someone outside the political establishment.
---
INDEPENDENTS
New
Hampshire primary voters' independent streak often sets them apart from
voters in other states, but they appear to be less of a factor this
time around.
When President Barack Obama was
running for re-election in 2012 and there was no contested Democratic
primary, self-identified independents made up nearly half (47 percent)
of the Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. In 2008, when Hillary
Clinton was running against Obama, 44 percent of Democratic primary
voters said they were independent.
On Tuesday,
there were slightly fewer independents at either primary. About 4 in 10
Republican voters identified themselves as independent as did just
about as many Democratic voters.
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IMPORTANT ISSUES
About
three quarters of GOP voters say they're very worried about the
economy, while 6 in 10 say they're very worried about terrorism. On the
Democratic side, only about a quarter say they're worried about each.
Three
in 10 Republican voters say the economy is the most important issue
facing the country. That's similar to the percentages who say government
spending and terrorism are the most important issues.
Three
in 10 Democratic primary voters said the economy was the most important
issue facing the country, while a similar share said income equality
was most important.
The economy, government
spending and terrorism were the top issues chosen by Republicans as the
most important facing the country, while less than 2 in 10 said
immigration was the top issue.
More than half
of GOP voters say immigrants currently in the country illegally should
be offered a chance to apply for legal status, and two-thirds of GOP
voters say they support a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
---
CANDIDATE QUALITIES
About
a third of Republican voters said the most important quality in a
candidate is someone who shared their values, while about the same
proportion said it was someone who could bring about needed change.
Democratic
voters said honesty, experience and someone who cares about people like
them were the most important qualities in a candidate.
Even
so, most voters in both primaries said they made their vote decisions
based on candidates' positions on issues rather than personal qualities.
---
IDEOLOGY
The
voters in New Hampshire have grown apart ideologically over the past
several presidential elections. Four years ago, 53 percent of voters in
the New Hampshire Republican primary described themselves as
conservative. On Tuesday, three-quarters of the voters in the
Republican primary said they were conservative.
Similarly,
56 percent of voters in the 2008 Democratic primary said their
political ideology was liberal; on Tuesday two-thirds of Democratic
voters consider themselves liberal.
---
The
survey was conducted for The Associated Press and the television
networks by Edison Research as voters left their polling places at 44
randomly selected sites in New Hampshire. Preliminary results include
interviews with 1,434 Democratic primary voters and 1,257 Republican
primary voters and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4
percentage points.
