Deep divisions in views of the election process – and whether it will be clear who won

A large majority of registered voters say it is important for Americans to know who won the presidential election within a day or two of Election Day. But just half say they are very or somewhat confident that this will happen, including nearly identical shares who support Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump and Biden supporters have deep disagreements over several other aspects of the election and voting process, including whether mail-in and absentee ballots will be counted as voters intended.

• Mail-in voting became much more common in 2020 primaries as COVID-19 spread
• See all our Election 2020 research

Differences in how Democrats and Republicans behave on Twitter

Democrats and Republicans have notable differences in how they use Twitter, from how often they tweet to the accounts they follow or mention in their own posts. Most U.S. adults on Twitter post rarely, but a small share of highly active users – most of whom are Democrats – produce the vast majority of tweets. In both parties, Twitter users tend to be younger and have higher levels of educational attainment than those who do not use the platform.

White Christians continue to favor Trump over Biden, but support has slipped

President Donald Trump continues to be White Christians’ preferred candidate, but support among voters in three major traditions – White Catholics, White Protestants who are not evangelical and even White evangelical Protestants – has slipped since August. Joe Biden is leading among every other religious group analyzed, including Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated.

Latino voters have growing confidence in Biden on key issues, while confidence in Trump remains low

As Election Day nears, U.S. Hispanic registered voters express growing confidence in Joe Biden’s ability to handle key issues like the coronavirus outbreak, with women and college graduates especially confident. By contrast, Hispanics’ views of Donald Trump on major issues are largely negative and mostly unchanged from June.

• Latinos make up a record 17% of Florida registered voters in 2020

Republicans who rely most on Trump for COVID-19 news see the outbreak differently from those who don’t

Republicans who turn to Donald Trump for coronavirus news are more likely than other Republicans to say the U.S. has controlled the outbreak as much as it could have, that the pandemic has been overblown and that Trump is getting the facts about the outbreak right.

• Before Trump tested positive for coronavirus, Republicans’ attention to pandemic had sharply declined
• See all our COVID-19 research

Social media led 23% of U.S. users to change their view on a political or social issue

Roughly a quarter of U.S. adult social media users say they have changed their views about a political or social issue because of something they saw on social media in the past year, up from 15% who said this in 2018. Asked to elaborate on what they changed their views about, these adults often mention the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality, as well as political parties, ideologies and political figures.

• 64% of Americans say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. today

Many globally are as concerned about climate change as about the spread of infectious diseases

Voters’ views of McConnell and Schumer are negative and deeply divided by partisanship

Decoded: Testing survey questions ahead of time can help sharpen a poll’s focus

From our research