2016 Election Night

Preliminary exit polls show that many voters were motivated by dislike of one of the candidates more than by support for the person they voted for. One in five Clinton voters said they chiefly oppose the other candidate, and 27 percent of Trump supporters said the same; those figures were just 8 percent for Obama voters in 2012 and 10 percent for Romney voters. Asked about Trump’s treatment of women, 70 percent of all voters said they were bothered some or a lot; 62 percent said the same about Clinton’s emails while secretary of state.

There has been talk that black turnout may be down in North Carolina. The preliminary exit polls suggest that may be the case. Only 21 percent of voters in North Carolina identified as black. That’s down slightly from 23 percent in 2012.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking this year about the visceral reactions that each candidate elicits from the American public — they were both historically disliked — so what’s struck me in the initial exit polls are what Americans said about their level of fear about the future, no matter who is elected. Preliminary exit polls suggest that 17 percent of voters are excited by the idea of Clinton as president and 29 percent are scared of it; only 13 percent of voters are excited about Trump as president, while 37 percent said that idea scared them.