WESA-Campos Survey: General Election Enthusiasm Mounts

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 this round of the WESA/Campos Pulse Survey, we explored Pittsburgh area residents’ attitudes and intentions with regard to the upcoming General Election. Below are a few highlights.

Key Findings

Pittsburgh area Democrats report being much more enthusiastic about voting in the upcoming November elections compared to how they felt 3 months ago.

As reported on by WESA’s Chris Potter, 73% of Democrats said they felt more enthusiastic now compared to three months ago, when President Joe Biden was their party’s nominee.
By comparison, 45% of Republicans say they feel more enthusiastic compared to three months ago.

A substantial portion of both Democrats (49%) and Republicans (33%) report they are paying more attention to political news and information compared to three months ago.
- Younger people ages 18-34 were more likely to say they’re paying more attention than three months ago (54%), compared to people ages 35-64 (38%) and people ages 65+ (43%). Older people were more likely to say they’re paying about the same amount of attention.

A notable minority of Pittsburgh area residents (27%) say they are definitely planning to vote outside their registered party when casting their ballot for President in November. Another 5% said they were considering it “a great deal.”

Thirty-three percent of Republicans said they were definitely planning to vote outside their party or seriously considering doing so, compared to 25% of Democrats.
- Fifty percent of Republicans are at least considering voting outside their party for President, compared to 33% of Democrats.

Younger people are more likely to vote against their party, with 42% of respondents 18-34 saying they plan to do so or are seriously considering it. This is compared to 29% of people ages 35-64 and 28% of people ages 65+.
Voters are willing to cross party lines when voting for Congressional and state offices as well, but not to the same degree.
- 17% of respondents said they definitely plan to vote outside their party in Congressional and state races, and another 8% said they are considering it a great deal.

When selecting who to vote for for President, Pittsburgh area residents prioritize the candidate’s domestic policies and their values or principles.

Pittsburgh area residents were most likely to identify domestic policy positions (74%) as one of their most important factors in deciding who to vote for in a Presidential election, closely followed by principles or values (72%).
- Democrats were much more likely than Republicans (84% vs. 53%) to say a candidate’s values or principles were one of their most important factors, making it the #1 factor for Democrats.

A candidate’s stance on foreign policy issues is also important to many, having been selected by 61% of respondents as one of their most important factors.
- Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say foreign policy positions were one of their most important factors (68% of Republicans vs. 57% of Democrats).
- Foreign policy is also prioritized much more by older respondents. 63% of people ages 35-64 and 75% of people 65+ said it was one of their most important factors, compared to 45% of people ages 18-34.
- People ages 18-34 are much more likely than older people to say the candidate’s understanding of their community and its needs is an important deciding factor for them (60% of people ages 18-34 years old, compared to 44% of people 35-64 and 53% of people 65+).

Nearly a third of Pittsburgh area residents say they are very or extremely concerned that this election season will have a negative impact on social relationships within their community.

32% of Pittsburgh area residents said they were very or extremely concerned that this election season might impact relationships among family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, schools, etc.
- Another 46% of respondents said they were moderately or slightly concerned about this happening, for a total of 78% of Pittsburgh area residents feeling some level of concern.
- Democrats are particularly worried, with 36% of them reporting feeling very or extremely concerned, compared to 22% of Republicans.

Survey Methodology

Fielding dates: September 5-11, 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: