Many voters who backed Democratic nominee Joe Biden say their vote was more about President Donald Trump.
An ongoing Morning Consult Poll, which included 10,870 respondents — 10,760 early voters and 200 Election Day voters — as of 11 a.m. ET Nov. 3, found Biden voters, compared to Trump voters, were twice as likely to say their vote was more about the other candidate.
Fifty-four percent of Biden voters surveyed said their vote was “more of a vote for Joe Biden” while 44% said it was “more of a vote against Donald Trump.”
Among Trump voters, 75% said their vote was “more of a vote for Donald Trump” while 22% said it was “more of a vote against Joe Biden,” the poll found.
The poll, conducted online between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3, has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
The results show “negative partisanship is helping fuel the Democratic nominee’s early support,” the poll says.
Biden is leading Trump in polling averages as of Tuesday. Nationally, the former vice president is up by an average of 8.4 percent points, according to poll analysis site FiveThirtyEight. Poll aggregator RealClearPolitics shows him leading Trump by an average of 7.2 percentage points.
FiveThirtyEight says Biden is “favored” to win the presidential election, with an 89% chance compared to Trump’s 10% chance. But experts say Trump could win despite his lagging poll numbers.
The Morning Consult poll asked respondents about the traits they look for in a presidential candidate.
While Biden supporters prioritized judgment, trustworthiness, honesty and stability, Trump supporters prioritized mental fitness, effectiveness, strong leadership and judgment.
Ninety-two percent of Biden backers said good judgment was “very important” to them while 91% said the same of trustworthiness, honesty and stability.
Among Trump backers, 89% said mental fitness was “very important” while 88% said the same of effectiveness, 87% of strong leadership and 85% of good judgment.
The poll also found that early voters have tended to be groups among which Biden has an advantage — including women and Democrats.
More than 100 million Americans have voted as of about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to the U.S. Elections Project, which is tracking early voting data. That’s 73.3% of the total votes counted in 2016. Four states — Texas, Washington, Montana and Hawaii — had already surpassed their 2016 turnout totals before polling places opened on Election Day, McClatchy News reported.
Of votes cast across the United States, more than 65 million of them have been mail-in ballots — a surge driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Elections Project says 44.9% of votes cast so far have come from registered Democrats, based on data from states that have party registration. Another 30.5% have come from registered Republicans.
Early voting numbers, however, aren’t the best indicators of election outcomes as Republicans tend to prefer voting in-person on Election Day, polling shows.