One-third of voters — and nearly 8 in 10 Democrats — say democracy is top issue

Nearly a third of voters and an overwhelming majority of Democrats say the state of democracy is the most important issue facing the country, according to new NBC News exit polling. 

According to the poll released Tuesday night, 32% of voters said democracy was the top issue, just seven percentage points below the economy. And democracy ranked higher than any other issue among Democrats: 77% of them said it was the country’s most important issue.

The state of democracy ranked higher than crime, foreign policy, health care and immigration as voters’ top issues.

That result is remarkable because economic grievances have been a central theme of the 2026 midterms. According to the poll, 44% of voters said their finances are worse today than they were two years ago, when President Donald Trump returned to office.

This is the latest polling to show that Americans have a pessimistic view of the state of democracy. In September, a national Gallup poll found that more than half of Americans believed U.S. democracy was in trouble. 

Since returning to the White House last year, President Donald Trump and his allies have been unrelenting in their efforts to undermine and cast doubt on the country’s elections. 

In its exit polling, NBC News surveyed over 75,000 voters as they left voting sites on Election Day.