AP Photo/Tony Dejak
- Coronavirus cases have surged in all but three states as Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday.
- Americans were worried about both catching the virus and the economic impact of the pandemic as they cast their votes and await the outcome of the election.
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COVID-19 cases have risen in all but three US states as the pandemic rages on and Americans head to the polls to cast their votes in the presidential elections, the Associated Press reported.
Voters in many states were worried about catching the virus and about the economic toll of any potential shutdown to curb the pandemic as they cast their votes on Tuesday. While a record number of absentee ballots were cast this year, many in-person polling sites also reported long lines.
The Wall Street Journal reported the weekly average of new daily cases hit a record 83,805. Hospitalizations across the country have also reached their highest levels since mid-August.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin saw a record number of new daily cases: 5,771.
“It’s very serious that we have 400 people gathered in one space at the height of the pandemic here in Wisconsin. So, we’ve tried to take every measure to limit the movement throughout the room,” Claire Woodall-Vogg, the election commission director of the city of Milwaukee told the AP.
Some voters have been upset with President Donald Trump's response to the pandemic, especially his claims that the outbreak in the US is "rounding the turn," and that has influenced their choice of candidate.
"The fact that he (Trump) acts like this is a fake virus that the entire world is out to get him out of office shows just how convoluted his thinking is," Carrie Rogers, 44, a software development manager from Mount Laurel, New Jersey, told the AP.
Rogers voted for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Others cited the economy, and especially the toll another coronavirus lockdown could take as a key motivator for their vote. Reuters reported that in one exit poll conducted by Edison Research, one out of three Americans said the economy was a key issue for them.
Jason Schanta, a business owner and father of twin 13-year-old boys from Fountain Valley, California, told the AP his business was doing well before the pandemic and he worries Biden would shut down the economy, so he's voted for Trump.
Additionally, however, around 40% of voters surveyed in the Edison exit poll also said the effort to contain the virus was going "very badly" and half of the voters said containing the pandemic was more important to them even if it negatively impacts the economy.
The poll was based on in-person interviews with voters on Tuesday, in-person interviews at early voting centers before Election Day, and telephone interviews with people who voted by mail.