Voting machines set up in 2023. (Provided by Charleston County Board of Voter Registration and Elections)
COLUMBIA — South Carolinians believe opioid addiction, illegal immigration, and election security are serious problems in America, but they generally agree it’s not hard to vote, according to a Winthrop Poll released Wednesday.
The poll, released just a month before the Nov. 5 election, unsurprisingly shows former President Donald Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris among likely voters in the Palmetto State. The results have Trump winning by about 10 percentage points. If that gap holds true on Election Day, Harris will do slightly better in this red state than Joe Biden did four years ago.
The 1,829 voters surveyed for the last Winthrop Poll before the election were asked to rate the seriousness of various issues on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “not a problem” and 10 being an “extremely serious problem” in America.
To keep the survey short, only a few prominent issues were included, said Scott Huffmon, a Winthrop University political science professor and the poll’s director.
Among all respondents, illegal immigration rated 7.7. But there was an almost 3-point difference between parties, with people who self-identified as Republican rating it a much more serious 9 than Democrats, who on average gave it a 6.4.
“While we see that concern over illegal immigration is extremely high among Republicans, it is also somewhat high among Democrats,” Huffmon said.
Republicans also thought election security is a bigger problem (rating it 7.9) than Democrats (5.7). But, again, responses showed voters of both parties believe it’s a serious issue.
However, Huffmon said, “I suspect that Republicans and Democrats may be talking about different things.” While no follow-up question was asked, he said, it’s likely that Republicans are “concerned about fraud that helps Kamala Harris” and Democrats are “worried about Republicans invalidating the vote.”
Also of serious concern is that “the country is turning its back on God,” with Republicans rating that 8.2 and Democrats 6.3.
The poll showed there’s one issue that people in both parties equally consider serious: Opioid addiction, which Republicans and Democrats rated an 8 — giving it the highest average rating of any issue asked about.
Both parties generally disagreed with the statement that “it is too hard to vote,” with Republicans giving that a 3 and Democrats giving that a 4.
The poll was taken Sept. 21-29 through a mix of landline phones, cellphones and an online panel.