Were voters surprised by Trump’s victory? Here’s what a new poll found
President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris shocked nearly half the country — including many of his detractors, new polling reveals.
In a YouGov/Economist poll, 47% registered voters said they were very or somewhat surprised by the election results. Meanwhile, a slight majority, 52%, said they were not at all or not very surprised.
Sixty-six percent of Harris voters said they were surprised, including 38% who said they were very surprised. In contrast, just 29% of Trump voters signaled they were surprised — only 7% of whom were very surprised.
Conducted between Nov. 6 and 7, the poll comes just days after Trump won a resounding electoral victory, sweeping all seven swing states and winning the popular vote with just over 50% support — the first time a Republican has done so in 20 years.
The GOP also won control of the Senate and retained control in the House of Representatives, meaning there will be a unified government for the next two years.
The poll sampled 1,590 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus about 3 percentage points.
Unsurprising, it also found that Trump and Harris voters felt entirely different emotions about the election results.
Seventy-seven percent of Trump voters said they were enthusiastic, while 20% signaled they “were satisfied but not enthusiastic.” Meanwhile, 66% of Harris voters said they were upset, while 24% said they were “dissatisfied but not upset.”
The majority of voters, 79%, also said they believed Trump’s victory “will have a lot of impact on the country.” A smaller share, 40%, said they think “it will have a lot of impact on themselves personally.”
Additionally, 75% of voters said they accept Trump will be the legitimate president. This figure includes 97% of Trump voters and 53% of Harris voters.
This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Were voters surprised by Trump’s victory? Here’s what a new poll found."