Last November, Donald Trump won a return to the White House amid broad national dissatisfaction with the state of the country. A year later, preliminary CNN exit polling finds, the first major electoral tests of the second Trump presidency take place with voters expressing similar pessimism and anti-incumbent sentiments despite the turnover in the Oval Office.
Across four closely watched contests — the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral race in New York City and the redistricting-related Proposition 50 in California — majorities disapprove of Trump, with strong disapproval of his performance far outpacing strong approval. In Virginia, New Jersey and California, roughly half or more of the electorate sees their vote as sending a message to Trump. And that message is largely one of opposition, rather than support.
At the same time, while all these places voted Democratic in last year’s presidential election, none currently give especially positive reviews to the Democratic Party. The party’s favorability rating hovers around the 50% mark in California and New York City — though the GOP is even more unpopular in those places. In New Jersey and Virginia, meanwhile, voters give roughly equal ratings to the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Views of the economy aren’t uniform. Most Virginia voters say that their state’s economy is excellent or good, even as a majority say that federal government cuts this year have had at least a minor effect on their family’s finances. Majorities in California, New York City and New Jersey, by contrast, call their state’s economic conditions not so good or poor. In each place, economic issues — taxes, cost of living, or the economy as a whole — dominate voters’ concern.
Exit poll numbers are preliminary and may be updated throughout the night. Learn more about how the surveys were conducted here.
