WESA-Campos Survey: April ’24 Primary Elections

Campos and 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station, are partnering on a series of short opinion surveys of adults in the Pittsburgh region to better understand their opinions on a range of timely topics. This joint research and reporting project will ensure WESA can tap into the opinions of people in Pittsburgh on a regular basis and use the corresponding results to complement its reporting. (For more information, or to sign up to participate, click here.)

In the fifth round of the WESA/Campos Pulse Survey, we explored Pittsburgh area residents’ attitudes and intentions with regard to the April 2024 primary elections. (The survey was conducted ~2 weeks before the election.) Below are a few highlights.

Key Findings

Most Pittsburgh area residents (88%) are at least somewhat likely to vote in the upcoming primary election, and more than half (57%) have been paying attention to the primary elections “a good deal” or more, this year.

96% of respondents self-identified as registered to vote in PA.
Based on self-report, 88% of respondents were at least “somewhat” likely to vote in the April 2024 primary election—with 77% “very likely.”
81% of respondents reported that they had been paying attention to local elections this year at least “a moderate amount.” More specifically, that included:
- 22% paying attention “completely”
- 35% paying attention “a good deal”
- 24% paying attention “a moderate amount”
Older respondents reported being much more likely to vote in the upcoming primary election than younger respondents, with 87% of respondents ages 65+ saying they were “very likely” to vote compared to 58% of respondents ages 18-34.

While the majority of Pittsburghers believe elections, especially national elections, have a great deal of impact on their life, they’re less certain of the impact their vote has on elections.

59% of respondents said local elections have “a great deal” of impact on their life. 58% said the same about state elections, and 68% said national elections have a great deal of impact.
- Respondents ages 65+ were much more likely than younger respondents to say state and national elections have a great deal of impact on their life (and also a little more likely to say so for local elections).
A plurality of respondents said they, personally, could only have “somewhat” of an impact on local, state, and national elections.
- 48% of respondents said they can make somewhat of an impact on local elections. 55% said the same about state elections, and 46% said the same about national elections.
- A notable minority felt they could not make any impact personally—14% for local elections, 15% for state elections, and 22% for national elections.
- Respondents feel they have the most opportunity to make an impact on local elections (39% said they could make a great deal of impact), compared to state (29%) and national (31%) elections.
- Those who are paying more attention to elections are much more likely to think than can have a great deal of impact compared to those paying no attention or only a moderate amount (e.g., 41% of those paying attention say they can have a great impact on national elections, vs. 10% of those slightly or not at all paying attention).

Economic issues are the top driver of voters’ choices in both local/state and national elections, followed by women’s reproductive issues.

Percentages below indicate the percent of respondents who marked that item as one of the top 3 issues “most important in deciding your vote for local or state elections.” The issues important for local and for state elections were assessed in 2 separate questions.

For local/state races, Pittsburgh area residents were most likely to identify “economic issues” (55%) as one of the top 3 issues important in deciding their votes.
- This was followed by “women’s reproductive issues” (38%) and “criminal justice and/or public safety” (36%).
- Women were much more likely to prioritize “women’s reproductive issues” than men (49% selected it as a top 3 issue, vs. 27% of men), though “economic issues” was still the top issue for women by a small margin.
Economic issues (56%) and reproductive issues (42%) also top the list for national races, with several other issues about tied for 3rd place (“immigration policy” at 32%, “tax policies” at 30%, “criminal justice and/or public safety” at 29%).
- Again, women are much more likely to prioritize “women’s reproductive issues” (53% selected it as a top 3 issue, vs. 30% of men).
In both local/state and national races, Democrats and Republicans have very different priorities.
- In both local/state and national races, “women’s reproductive issues” are the most important issue driving the vote for registered Democrats, with 55% of them selecting it as a top issue in local/state races and 61% selecting it as a top issue in national races. “Economic issues” come a little just behind it (47% local/state, 53% national). Every other issue is much less likely to be prioritized (i.e., less than 30%).
- “Economic issues” rank first for registered Republicans (68% local/state, 63% national), but they also deem “immigration policy” and “criminal justice and/or public safety” nearly as important. In local/state races, 52% of Republicans chose “criminal justice and/or public safety” as a top 3 concern and 61% chose “immigration policy” as a top 3 concern. In national races those figures were 47% and 61% respectively.

Registered Democrats are somewhat more likely than registered Republicans to say their party is aligned with their views on the issues they care most about.

56% of registered Democrats said their party is aligned with their views on the issues they care most about, compared to 47% of Republicans.
Notable minority of both parties say their party is not aligned with their views (36% of Democrats, 49% of Republicans).
- Among registered Republicans, 30% say the party is not well aligned with them but moving closer to their views, while 19% say the party is not well aligned and moving further away from their views.
Those paying close attention to the elections are much more likely to say their party is well aligned with their views (56%) compared to those paying little to no attention (29%).

Looking ahead, most Pittsburgh area residents say they know who they plan to vote for in the 2024 Presidential Election.

When asked who they intend to vote for for President in 2024, assuming Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be the major party nominees, 77% of respondents say they “know for sure” who they will be voting for.
- 10% say they are uncertain but leaning in one direction, and another 9% say they are completely undecided. Only 2% said they do not intend to vote for President.
Registered Republicans are slightly more likely than registered Democrats to be undecided.
- While the majority of Republicans said they know for sure who they plan to vote for for President (76%), they were less certain than Democrats (85%).
Younger respondents are also more likely to be undecided.
- 69% of respondents ages 18-34 years old “know for sure” who they intend to vote for for President, compared to 77% of 35-64 year olds and 85% of people ages 65+.

Survey Methodology

Fielding dates: April 1-5, 2024

Survey length: 5-8 minutes

Sample: 400 adults (age 18+) in the Pittsburgh region

Responses were solicited from the proprietary Campos Research Panel (10,000+ members in the Greater Pittsburgh area). Respondents were offered a chance to win one of five $50 gift cards to incentivize participation.
85% of the respondents reside in Allegheny County, and about 15% reside in the adjacent 5 counties (Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington, Westmoreland).
The sample was managed to be approximately representative of the 6-county region by age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Screening Criteria: