Democrats have enthusiasm problem among key voters: poll

A new poll shows that enthusiasm among core groups of Republicans have eclipsed that of Democrats in the latest indication of a red surge at the ballot box less than a week before Election Day.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey found that Democratic voters’ motivation boost from the Supreme Court overturning abortion protections this summer has now been eclipsed by that of Republicans, who have been most concerned about stubbornly high inflation.

Key demographics that lean Republican are far outpacing the Democrats’ key demographics when it comes to those who say they are “very interested.”

For Republicans, that includes older voters (87%), Trump voters (80%), White evangelical Christians (79%) and rural voters (75%).

For Democrats, it includes White college-educated women (86%), Latino voters (58%), Black voters (55%) and young voters (52%).

Enthusiasm among independents was also low, at 58%.

Inflation continued to dominate as the top issue facing voters (36%), followed by preserving democracy (26%), abortion (14%), immigration (9%), health care (8%) and crime (7%).

The poll was conducted Oct. 24-27 among 1,586 adults — 1,469 of whom were registered voters — and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.