One month before the general election, a sense of pessimism about life in the U.S. unites many residents of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, according to a set of new polls from The Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling.
When asked, “Do you believe things in the United States are headed in the right direction or do you believe things are on the wrong track?” about 70% of the respondents across Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska answered “the wrong track.”
Emerson Polling communications director Camille Mumford said it is not unusual for Republicans to express pessimism about life under a Democratic administration and vice versa. All four states in the poll lean strongly Republican.
“Considering Joe Biden is the president right now, most Republicans in the survey were saying that the United States is on the wrong track and most Democrats saying it’s headed in the right direction,” Mumford said. “So, a larger majority of respondents in these states will say we’re on the wrong track.”
Mumford said The Midwest Newsroom polling project represented a unique opportunity to go beyond candidate preference and ballot tests ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
“This is the first time that we’ve worked with a news organization and solely studied the issues that matter to voters around each state,” she said.
The Midwest Newsroom partnered with Emerson College Polling to conduct surveys of registered voters in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2. The sample size was 1,000 persons in each state, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3% and a 95% confidence level.
The four polls included questions specific about issues on Nov. 5 ballots in each state in addition to topics and themes that are not on ballots, but have become prominent features of public discourse.
The questions on each poll were crafted through a collaborative effort between The Midwest Newsroom’s partners and Emerson College polling.
A few findings
- More than 60% of respondents in all four states said a college degree is not worth the cost.
- About 10% of respondents in each state said climate change is caused “entirely by human activities” while about 24% said it’s caused “mostly by human activities.”
- When asked where they find news about state and local politics they trust, about 35% of respondents across all four states responded “local media,” while about 25% said “social media sites.”
The Midwest Newsroom will be publishing additional findings.
Abortion and more
Three of the four states included in the poll have measures related to abortion on their general election ballots. Missouri voters will also consider abortion access on Nov. 5.
When asked whether Missouri’s abortion law is too strict, not strict enough, or about right, 56% of respondents answered “too strict.” The survey also asked Missourians about the minimum wage and funding for professional sports stadiums.
In Nebraska, voters have two measures to consider.
One would expand abortion rights until fetal viability – usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The other would enshrine Nebraska’s 12-week ban on most abortions while allowing for future restrictions.
The results of the poll show both Nebraska proposals will likely pass. Whichever measure receives the most votes will be adopted into the Nebraska constitution.
The Nebraska poll also asked about felon voting rights.
While Kansas does not have an abortion measure on the November ballot, it is the only one of the four states where abortion is legal, making it a destination for women seeking the procedure. When asked whether “this is a good thing” for the state, most respondents said “yes.”
The poll also asked Kansans about marijuana legalization and the impact of immigration on the state.
When asked whether Iowa’s abortion law is too strict, not strict enough, or about right, 56% of respondents answered “too strict.” The poll also asked Iowans about eliminating the state income tax and how the state government is handling the economy.
Holly Edgell, managing editor of The Midwest Newsroom, said the project aimed to gauge voter sentiment across a range of issues, themes and topics that recur in popular discourse.
“These are the questions of our time,” she said. “We were less interested in asking how people are planning to vote in November than asking how people are thinking about issues close to home as they grapple with them in daily life.”
The Midwest Newsroom is an investigative and enterprise journalism collaboration that includes Iowa Public Radio, KCUR, Nebraska Public Media, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.
