And satisfaction with the field of candidates is significantly higher than it was a few months ago. Harris’ supporters are now significantly more likely to express satisfaction than supporters of President Joe Biden were in July.

Almost two-thirds of voters (64%) say a lot Thoughts on the candidates who are running in the 2024 presidential election.

As in 2020, supporters of the two candidates are about equally likely to say they have given the presidential candidates a lot of thought. Today, 63 percent of Harris supporters and 66 percent of Trump supporters say this.

About three-quarters of voters (76%) say it really matters who wins the election. This is consistent with voters’ views on the 2020 election in both August (76%) and October (78%) of the same year.

A similar number of Harris (76%) and Trump (77%) supporters say it really matters who wins the 2024 election.

In the late summer and fall of 2016 and 2020, supporters of the two major party candidates were also about equally likely to say the outcome really mattered. For example, in early August 2020, 78% of Biden supporters and 76% of Trump supporters said it really mattered who wins this presidential election. And in September 2016, about three-quarters of Clinton and Trump supporters said the outcome of this year’s election really mattered.

Satisfaction with the candidates

Voters’ overall satisfaction with the presidential candidates is significantly higher than it was two months ago. This change is largely due to the fact that Harris supporters were almost three times more likely to say they were satisfied with the candidates than Biden supporters in July.

About half of registered voters (48%) say they are very or fairly satisfied with the presidential candidates this year. A similar proportion (51%) say not satisfied with the candidates. Satisfaction is now 17 percentage points higher than in July.

About half of Harris supporters (52%) say they are satisfied with the presidential candidates. While a smaller proportion of Trump supporters (45%) say the same.

In July – before Biden dropped out of the race – Trump supporters were significantly more likely than Biden supporters to say they were satisfied with the candidates (51% versus 18%).

Harris supporters are also now more likely to express satisfaction with the candidates than Biden supporters at a similar point in 2020 (52% versus 41%).

In contrast, current Trump supporters (45%) are less likely to say they are satisfied with the presidential candidates than those who supported Trump in 2020 (53%).

Views about the values ​​and goals of the other candidate’s supporters

When asked to think about the “ordinary Americans” who support each other, an overwhelming majority of Trump and Harris supporters respond that they not only have different views on policies and actions, but that these differences extend to “core American values ​​and goals.”

Three-quarters of Harris supporters – and about eight in 10 Trump supporters (81 percent) – say they fundamentally disagree with the other group on the country’s core values.

In contrast, 24 percent of Harris supporters and 18 percent of Trump supporters say they share “a fundamental commitment to the same core American values ​​and goals” as the other candidate’s supporters, despite their different policy and conceptual priorities.

Harris supporters today are slightly more likely to recognize a fundamental commitment to the same core American values ​​and goals than Biden supporters were in 2020 as Trump supporters (24 percent today versus 18 percent then).

In contrast, today’s Trump supporters (18%) are slightly fewer more likely than Trump supporters four years ago (22%) to say that their differences with supporters of the Democratic candidate are limited to policy and goal-oriented priorities.