| Question |
Answer |
VoteMatch results
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Below are the summary results of our VoteMatch 20-question political quiz,
with analysis of the responses in terms of Donald Trump's & Kamala Harris' stances from
the 2020 elections. This data summarizes about 1,580 VoteMatch quiz responses. Click on the links below for excerpts
on each topic, or click for a summary of
Kamala Harris' VoteMatch answers and
Donald Trump's VoteMatch answers, with headlines evidencing how we concluded
their answer to each question. Click on the "analysis" link to see background
and details about the question.
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Abortion is a Woman's Unrestricted Right |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 51%
agree with Harris' pro-choice
stance, and only 36% with
Trump;s pro-life stance. This issue has the fewest people answering "no
opinion" of any VoteMatch issue (only 13%), which reflects the fact that it is
overwhelmingly the issue with the most voter interest (as indicated by our
viewership statistics consistently since 1999). Over time, the response set has become more polarized (both "strong" answers increased in percentage)
and more shifted towards "support". Accordingly, we "strengthened" the question text by adding the term "unrestricted" -- which reduced the number of "support" answers from 65% in 2012 to 51% in 2016. We count Trump as "oppose" because, while he focused on overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump now focuses on keeping abortion rights as a states' decision. Pro-life activists who "strongly oppose" want a national abortion ban, which Trump does not support Click for all candidates' headlines on
abortion or for background
information.
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Legally require hiring women & minorities |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Harris
supports
Affirmative Action on the basis of past discrimination; Trump opposes
DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Note that
our question specifies REQUIREMENT: 50% support that, and 30% oppose. We added the term "LEGALLY" to attempt to skew more towards "oppose" (our goal is 50/50 support/oppose). We previsouly worded this question without the term "LEGALLY", and 39% supported that (the largest shift for
any question which had identical wording previously). Click for all candidates'
headlines on Jobs or for
background information.
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Support transgender and LGBTQ+ rights |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Joe Biden
evolved over time to become "comfortable" with same-sex marriage (strong support now; opposed in the 1990s); we strengthened our wording from "Comfortable with same-sex marriage" after 2020.
Donald Trump has generally supported gay rights, but does not support transgender rights.
Kamala Harris has always used the term "LGBT", with no evolution necessary to include transgender rights. The "strongly support" bar has the highest response of any
quiz question (35% strongly support; that bar has grown recently) -- indicating that America has "evolved" on same-sex marriage along with Biden. We strengthened the wording
(to include "benefits" instead of just "rights") then we strengthened it further (to include "marriage" instead of just "benefits"). Despite those strengthened wordings, the "strongly support" ratio rose each election cycle.
Click for all candidates' headlines on
Families & Children or for
background information.
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America was founded on Christian values |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 51% support (agreeing with Republicans); 28% oppose (agreeing with Democrats): It's
difficult to decode Harris' stances on religious issues, because she doesn't address the issue much. After 2020, we generalized this question's wording from "Keep God in the public sphere."
Trump is less personally religious than Biden or Harris, but accepts the support of the "religious right".
Under this topic, Trump mostly talks about issues of
"political incorrectness" like saying "Merry Xmas". Harris instead focuses on |
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Businesses have a right to pollute |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This is a new question after the 2016 election cycle, reworded after 2020 when it read "Fight EPA regulatory over-reach."
Donald Trump's desire to reduce regulations is backed up by 53% of viewers. Kamala Harris'
desire to protect the environment via federal action is backed by 27% of viewers. Click for all candidates' headlines on Environment
or for background information.
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Make voter registration easier |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 50%
favor, and only 26% oppose, voting reform. This indicates a public reaction against "voter suppression" and gerrymandering, and perhaps for campaign finance reform.
(We refocused this question away from "Campaign Finance Reform" since the Citizens United Supreme Court decision
which removed many restrictions on campaign spending.) Viewers' responses favors Harris'
stance for more open voting compared to Trump s
stance for more "voter security". Click for all candidates' headlines on
Voting Reform, or for
background information.
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Stricter punishment reduces crime |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Trump
supports mandatory sentencing, which matches voter preference: 52% to 29%
opposed. Harris prefers
prevention and rehabilitation Support for mandatory sentencing, the death penalty, and "Three Strikes" (our previous question wordings) have increased over the last decade. The "Black Lives Matter" movement, which arose in the 2016 election, might be credited with slowing support for this topic. Click for all
candidates' headlines on Crime or for
background information.
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Absolute Right To Gun Ownership |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: The
Gun Control issue is second in the Big Issues in terms of viewer
interest, behind Abortion -- all other issues are
very distantly behind. Voters support Trump on the issue: 42% agree with
Trump s pro-gun rights stance, while 33% agree with
Harris' pro-registration stance. HOWEVER, support has been weakening in recent election cycles, we previously registered 55% support to 37% oppose --perhaps due to the focus on mass shootings since then.
This question exemplifies the "yes-bias": people prefer answering "yes" to any question; if we correct for that bias, this question is now opposed by the majority (but was not in 2012 or earlier). Our wording on this question has never changed, since 1999 -- but America's view is evolving.
Click for all candidates' headlines on
Gun_Control or for background
information.
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Expand ObamaCare |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This
topic is a leader in lopsided support: 56% in favor, versus only 24% opposing (slightly less favorable than 2012 and even less than in 2008).
We've changed the wording of this question from generic "health coverage" to "ObamaCare" for 2016, but the support ratio has remained steady.
Accordingly, Trump (and many Republicans) have been promoting various spending programs that
mimic aspects of ObamaCare without calling it ObamaCare (a term repugnant to Trump). But federal health care is generally seen as a
Democratic issue, favoring Harris' fervent stance of
incrementally reaching universal coverage. Click for all candidates'
headlines on Health Care or for
background information.
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Vouchers for school choice |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 27%
agree with Harris' stance favoring
public school choice and Common Core, and 47% agree with Trump s stance to
fund vouchers for private schools. Education is primarily a non-federal
issue, with 93% of funding and most decisions occuring at the state and local
levels. But education is solidly third in voter interest (behind abortion and
guns, as measured by our viewership statistics), so the candidates are obligated to make their views known
despite the limited power of the presidency on this issue. Click for all
candidates' headlines on School Choice or for
background information.
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Prioritize green energy |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This
topic offers another of the most lopsided responses: 56% in favor, versus only 22% opposing. The candidates sharply
differ; This is a particularly sharp difference because the question is worded
in stronger terms than our previous quizzes (73% support to 14% oppose "Replace coal and oil with alternatives").
The majority agree with Harris' stance that
global warming is a serious threat, vs. Trump s stance
questioning climate change. Most notably, this question had the lowest "strongly oppose" of any question (only 7%) -- reflecting that everyone CLAIMS to support green energy.
The catch-phrase "all-of-the-above energy" really means "drill for oil and gas," but pro-oil and pro-coal candidates like to say it includes solar and wind also. Click for all candidates' headlines on
Energy or for background
on Environment or
background on Energy issues.
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Marijuana is a gateway drug |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 53%
support the Drug War, while 28% oppose it. This has not been much of a campaign
issue but Trump & Harris disagree: Harris would
treat drugs with treatment, while Trump would implement
stronger penalties. Perhaps America has evolved due to marijuana legalization efforts, but Trump has evolved in the opposite direction: favoring decriminalization in the 1990s but taking a harder line as a candidate. Click for all candidates' headlines on
Drugs or for background
information.
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Stimulus better than market-led recovery |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This is a new question since 2016; it is a defining difference between Republicans and Democrats during and after President Obama's "stimulus package" and now the post-COVID recovery.
51% of viewers agree with Kamala Harris
on supporting the federal stimulus; 21% of viewers agree with the Republicans and Donald Trump
opposing the federal stimulus. Republicans recognize that viewers did support a federal response to the "Great Recession", so they pivot to their own definition of "stimulus": cutting taxes (question below) and reducing regulations (question a few above). Click for all candidates' headlines on
Budget and Economy or for
background information.
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Higher taxes on the wealthy |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 28% agree with Kamala Harris that the
the wealthy should pay a greater share; 51% agree with Trump on
cutting taxes on the wealthy. This is an enormous shift since the 2016 election cycle, when our question was worded "Make taxes more progressive":
53% agreed with a more progressive tax structure and only 32% opposed. This is the largest shift of any question on our quiz; we attribute it to (1) the harsher wording ("progressive" sounds nice; "tax the wealthy" does not); and (2) Republican success at convincing the public that cutting taxes will create jobs and economic growth. Click for all candidates' headlines
on Tax Reform or for
background information.
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Pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Our viewers are evenly split on immigration: 39% support a pathway to citizenship and 39% oppose.
This question has been evenly split for many years.
Keep in mind that for all questions the bias is towards answering "yes", so an even split means, in general, that opposition is stronger than support -- and Donald Trump capitalized on that. Trump calls
for tougher enforcement
and a border wall; Harris calls for
comprehensive reforms. Click for all candidates'
headlines on Immigration or for
background information.
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Privatize Social Security |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Only
18% agree with Harris' stance to keep Social Security
within the federal government, while 58% agree with Trump s stance of
privatization (the highest support score of any question). Support of privatization in some aspect -- including calling for "reforms" in general -- have been rising in recent years. Social Security until recently was called the
"Third Rail" of politics -- touch it and you die -- but clearly the voters are
ready for a change. This question is perhaps the most skewed by our
demographics -- our respondents are all Internet users, and hence are younger
and more affluent than the general population. Click for all candidates'
headlines on Social Security or for
background information.
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Support and Expand Free Trade |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: Free trade has a consensus in favor:
47% to only 29% opposed. Trump & Harris agree in restricting free trade
but for different reasons, with Trump focusing on
nationalist & protectionist grounds, and Harris insisting
on labor and
environmental standards in free trade agreements. Click for all candidates' headlines on
Free Trade or for background
information.
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Expand the military |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This question has long yielded an even split among viewers, 35% support to 35% oppose.
Trump focuses on a general
military buildup and a strong foreign policy. Kamala Harris echoes the even split of our viewership, focusing on
veteran's benefits but switching funds from military to diplomacy. The third-party candidates all point out the folly of supporting the
military-industrial complex, but they have no support from the two major parties.
Click for all candidates' headlines on Homeland Security in general,
or for background
information.
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Stay away from the U.N. & Globalism |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: This is a newly-worded question in the 2024 election cycle, reworded from "Support American Exceptionalism". We mean the same thing, but the terminology and fervency have changed. 35% support "American exceptionalism" while 33% oppose. But "No Opinion" is the single most frequent response, at 31%.
That indicates that the population is unclear on the meaning of "American exceptionalism" -- because Republicans and Democrats mean very different things by it.
Harris supports
multilateralism, internationalism, and accepting refugees. Trump supports
unilateralism, nationalism, and barring refugees. Click for all candidates' headlines on
Foreign Policy or for background
information.
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Stay out of foreign wars |
Strongly Support
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Support
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No Opinion
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Oppose
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Strongly Oppose
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| Analysis: 43% support exiting wars abroad; 27% oppose exiting.
This is a big drop from previous election cycle (where our wording was more specific, "US out of Iraq & Afghanistan") where 68% favored ending our ongoing wars and 15% opposed doing so.
The previous wording ("Avoid foreign entanglements", which quotes President George Washington) ignores specific wars, as does the current wording, rather than focusing on israel or Iran or Ukraine -- but the vague wording garners less support.
Both Harris and Trump disagree with the majority, but for different reasons. Harris
supports military assistance to Ukraine, while Trump has long favored Russia over Ukraine but would
militarily enforce denuclearization in North Korea and in Iran. All candidates support Israel's right to self-defense, except Jill Stein. Click for all candidates' headlines on
War + Peace or for
background information.
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Methodology
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