Tennessee voters divided on the state of the nation

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

As voters cast ballots for governor, U.S. Senate and members of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, AP VoteCast found that 54 percent of Tennessee voters said the country is on the right track, compared with 45 percent who said the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Here’s a snapshot of who voted and why in Tennessee, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, an innovative nationwide survey of about 138,000 voters and nonvoters — including 3,831 voters and 779 nonvoters in the state of Tennessee — 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 (27 percent), health care (26 percent), the economy (20 percent), terrorism (8 percent) and gun policy (5 percent).

STATE OF THE ECONOMY

Voters have a positive view of the nation’s current economic outlook — 74 percent said the nation’s economy is good, compared with 26 percent who said it’s not good.

TRUMP FACTOR

For 32 percent of Tennessee voters, President Donald Trump was not a factor they considered while casting their vote. By comparison, 67 percent said Trump was a reason for their vote.

CONTROL OF CONGRESS

Tuesday’s elections will determine control of Congress in the final two years of Trump’s first term in office, and 75 percent of Tennessee voters said which party will hold control was very important as they considered their vote. Another 18 percent said it was somewhat important.