Idaho voters divided on state of nation

Voters casting midterm election ballots in Idaho are divided over the state of the nation, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate.

As voters cast ballots for governor and members of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, AP VoteCast found that 53 percent of Idaho voters said the country is on the right track, compared with 47 percent who said the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Here’s a snapshot of who voted and why in Idaho, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, an innovative nationwide survey of about 138,000 voters and nonvoters – including 713 voters and 241 nonvoters in the state of Idaho – conducted for the Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.

Top issues

Voters considered several issues to be important to their vote in this midterm election, including immigration (29 percent), health care (26 percent), the economy (20 percent), terrorism (7 percent) and the environment (5 percent).

State of the economy

Voters have a positive view of the nation’s current economic outlook – 69 percent said the nation’s economy is good, compared with 31 percent who said it’s not good.

Trump factor

For 50 percent of Idaho voters, President Donald Trump was not a factor they considered while casting their vote. By comparison, 50 percent said Trump was a reason for their vote.