A comprehensive look at some exit polling following the still-contested 2020 presidential election is giving us a deeper look at those who presumably voted for Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
ABC News shared its audit of the voting trends during the election, and it revealed that those who are unreligious, unmarried and less likely to hold a full-time job voted for Democrats by big margins.
Biden’s apparent support for more invasive lockdowns and other mandates to curtail cases of the coronavirus, should he win the election, did not chase away some groups of people.
Let’s dive into the numbers.
According to the ABC exit polling, people who are unmarried voted reported voting Democrat over Republican by a margin of 18 points.
Democrats carried voters who answered “no” on the question, “Are you currently married?”
Of those who were unwed, 58 percent of them voted Democrat, while a mere 40 percent reported voting Republican.
Those who were married voted Republican over Democrat by a margin of seven points, 53 percent to 46 percent.
If the exit polling is accurate, that means that Democrats’ proposed policies for the country were popular with a majority of unmarried voters.
With voters who do not work full-time, Democrats also prevailed.
Democrats were more popular with those who answered “no” on the question, “Do you work full-time for pay?”
Of people who are not currently working a full-time job, 57 percent reported voting Democrat, while only 42 percent voted Republican.
Republicans also prevailed by four points, 51 percent to 47 percent, with those who answered that they work a full week.
One other factor that is noteworthy was the vote of those who identify as belonging to a religion.
Protestant or other Christians voted Republican over Democrat by a margin of 60 percent to 39 percent.
Those who reported having no religion split for Democrats by a margin of 65 percent to 31 percent.
Exit polling from The Associated Press VoteCast survey asked approximately 140,000 voters about the frequency with which they attend church or other religious services.
Biden won big with those who rarely or never attend church.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, carried voters who attend religious services once a week or more by a margin of 62 percent to 37 percent.
Trump also won over voters who attend religious services a few times a month 54 percent to 44 percent, and he won once-a-month churchgoers by an almost-identical margin of 54 to 45.
Biden, meanwhile, grabbed 63 percent of voters who reported “never” going to church.
Not to denigrate those who might not work full-time, are not married or do not attend religious services, but they are arguably less likely to be affected by Biden’s plans for the economy as, if declared the winner, he would likely use the coronavirus as a pretext to clamp down on those who attend in-person religious services and go to work.
Biden has signaled he would have few reservations about shuttering the economy.
We of course know after looking at the effects of lockdowns that they kill jobs and also create a plethora of other issues — from mental health to substance abuse — for many people.
For some persons who might already be home all day, alone in the world and without meaningful company, lockdown measures might be of little consequence, so long as liquor stores remain open and cat food is widely available, one could assume.
People who live lives that might for now be void of any meaningful relationships, gainful employment or faith arguably have little invested in the future of the country, and perhaps even less invested in what our country’s young people will someday inherit.
While voting demographics are generally looked at through a lens of ethnicity, age and gender, the breakdown of votes is eye-opening, considering the chaotic nature of the 2020 election and the coronavirus pandemic.
If the ABC exit polling is accurate, Democratic proposals didn’t hurt them with Americans whose lives are essentially, in some cases, already a lockdown.
On the other hand, working people, people of strong faith and those who have managed to lock down a spouse reported voting Republican by some pretty big margins.
The takeaway is that forward-looking people in many circumstances voted Republican, while a majority of those with life factors that might have them living in the now were unbothered by Democratic proposals to cede away their liberties and the country’s future prosperity.