Early exit polling had some worrying signs for Vice President Kamala Harris early Tuesday evening.
The first CNN exit poll of voters revealed that only 7% of those surveyed are feeling “enthusiastic” about the way things are going in the country.
Nearly half of those surveyed (43%) said they are “dissatisfied” with the country’s direction and 29% said they are “angry.” That adds up to a total of 72% of voters who are angry about the direction of the country.
The same survey showed that President Biden’s approval rating is underwater at 41%.
Those results could be concerning for Ms. Harris, who had desperately tried to distance herself from her boss, who has been saddled with poor approval ratings for the past three years.
Despite the warning signs, the Harris campaign is seeing some positive news that gives them hope in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
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There is a high Puerto Rican turnout in Philadelphia. As of midday Tuesday, the three wards with the highest concentration of Puerto Rican voters in the city were already at 79% of their 2020 turnout.
Puerto Rican voters are a reliably Democratic voting bloc. Some Puerto Rican voters also have expressed outrage after a comedian referred to it as “floating island of garbage” during former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally last month.
The campaign also pointed to what it sees as high enthusiasm among young college students. For example, in Pennsylvania the lines to vote at Lehigh University are seven hours long.
In North Carolina, Republican turnout appears to be below 2020 levels in the rural counties, while voters are flocking to the polls in the deep-blue city of Durham.
Pennsylvania and North Carolina are two of the biggest prizes Tuesday night and polling remained dead even in both states in the run-up through Election Day. Both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump spent the Monday before Election Day crisscrossing Pennsylvania.
However, the campaign appears to have written off Florida as Republican turnout remains at a high level, similar to 2022 when Gov. Ron DeSantis cruised to victory for a second term.
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• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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