Democrats more anxious about 2020 election than Republicans: poll

Democratic voters are more anxious and frustrated than their GOP counterparts heading into the 2020 election season, a new poll finds.

An Associated Press–NORC survey released Thursday found that 66 percent of left-leaning voters describe themselves as “anxious” about the upcoming election, while another 62 percent also described themselves as “frustrated” about the state of politics.

That’s compared to Republican voters, just 46 percent of whom said they were “anxious” about the election and 42 percent “frustrated.” GOP voters were also slightly more likely to describe themselves as “interested” in the upcoming election, 82 percent compared to Democrats’ 79 percent.

The poll also gauged voter excitement, with 43 percent of Republican voters saying they were “excited” about the 2020 elections and 33 percent of Democrats saying the same.

One Democratic pollster told the AP that the results reflected typical dynamics for a party out of political power vs. a party in control of the White House.

“In general, supporters of the party in power are going to be more optimistic and hopeful, while supporters of the party out of power are going to be frustrated and angry,” Anna Greenberg told the AP.

“Since Trump was elected, Democrats have been particularly anxious about both the idea of disinformation and election interference in 2020 and what could happen in a second Trump term,” she added. “[But] there is no evidence that Democrats are any less enthusiastic about voting in 2020, and the results of the 2018 election would suggest that they are highly motivated to vote.”

The AP–NORC poll surveyed 1,353 U.S. adults Jan. 16–21. The margin of error is 3.6 percentage points.