What Issue Mattered Most on Election Day?

While most voters said the candidates’ policy positions were more important than their character, voters still place it high on the list of issues that influenced their vote in the presidential election.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, when asked to choose from a list of factors, 27% of Likely U.S. Voters say the character of the candidates was most important to their vote this year. Nearly as many (23%) say the economy and jobs was most important, followed by national security and the war on terror at 15%. Thirteen percent (13%) name fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation as most important.

Nine percent (9%) say social issues such as abortion and gay marriage were most important, while six percent (6%) say that of illegal immigration. Five percent (5%) opted for something else not named in the survey. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 7-8, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.