Results: 2020 Exit Polls

With the 2020 presidential election concluded, exit polls in all states continue to be reviewed. Exit polls are conducted directly after voters cast their ballots that give a more detailed report to the demographics of a region. The 2020 exit polls specifically provide an important outlook to the difference between the 2016 and 2020 presidential election.

It is important to note that this election has shown record voter turnout, with the most votes cast in over a century. According to NBC news, more than 150 million voters cast ballots. Due to the drastic change in voter turnout (in comparison, only 138 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election), the exit polls changed as well. In the 18-29 age group, the presumed President-elect Joe Biden gained five percent more votes in comparison to the 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, as stated by CNN. Furthermore, CNN reports that President Donald Trump lost the support of older voters aged 45-64 years of age by seven percent.

While Democratic nominee Joe Biden performed stronger in the age category in comparison to the 2016 democratic nominee, he underperformed among Black voters. According to CBC news, Trump gained five percent more of the Black vote while Biden lost two percent of the Black vote when comparing the 2016 and 2020 election results. However, Biden still won the Black vote nationwide by a large margin. As reported by NBC news, although nationally most Latinos voted for Biden, President Trump continued to strengthen his Latino vote in battle ground states such as Florida. The 55% of the Cuban American vote, 30% of the Puerto Rican vote, and 48% of other Latinos that voted for the President largely impacted the rest of the state. For example, in the largest county by population in Florida, Miami-Dade, the President improved his total vote from 334,000 votes to 529,000. In comparison, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 624,000 votes, while the presumed President-elect Joe Biden only won 613,000, a decrease in votes. Although Trump lost in Miami-Dade County, he won enough votes elsewhere in Florida to win the state. As stated by Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus of CBS news, “Florida Latinos said Mr. Trump would do a better job than Biden handling the economy”. Therefore, the economy played a major factor to the gains the president made in the Latino community.

Although media outlets continue to study and report exit polls, the data clearly show a divided nation. As former President Barack Obama stated in reference to the election results, “What it says is that we are deeply divided. The power of the alternative worldview that’s presented in the media that those voters consume -- it carries a lot of weight”. With record-breaking voter turnout and a tight election, Americans continue to be divided on politics.