CNN spoke to voters about the issue they care about, what they think of the two candidates and what they think about the economy.

Here are the early results of CNN's national election poll.

Top topics: More than a third say democracy is their most important issue, and around three in ten say the economy. Abortion and immigration follow, with fewer than 5% citing foreign policy as their most important issue.

A wide majority of voters who support Vice President Kamala Harris — a little less than six in 10 — say democracy is their most important issue, with about 20% saying abortion is their most important issue. About half of former President Donald Trump's voters say the economy is their top issue, followed by about 20% of respondents who say immigration is their top issue.

Excited about their candidates: About three-quarters of voters nationwide, including about eight in 10 Trump voters and two-thirds of Harris voters, say their vote was primarily in support of their candidate and not primarily motivated by a desire to vote against to vote for their opponent.

When asked which of the four qualities – the ability to lead, care about people like them, have good judgment or bring about necessary change – is most important, Trump voters overwhelmingly say they have leadership skills and the ability , value making change, while Harris voters are more divided about what qualities are most important to them.

Economic perspective: Around three quarters of voters assess the current situation in the USA negatively.

Only about a quarter describe themselves as enthusiastic or satisfied with the state of the nation, with more than 4 in 10 dissatisfied and about 3 in 10 saying they are angry.

But voters remain generally optimistic: More than six in 10 say America's best days are in the future, and only about a third say they are in the past.

More about the exit surveys: CNN's election polls for the 2024 general election include interviews with thousands of voters, both those who voted on Election Day and those who voted early or by mail.

This scope makes them a powerful tool for understanding the demographic profile and political views of voters in this year's election. And their results are ultimately compared to the ultimate benchmark: the results of the elections themselves.

However, exit polls are still polls with margins of error – meaning they are most useful when treated as estimates rather than precise measurements. This is particularly true for the earliest election results, which have not yet been adjusted to the final election results.

Methodology: CNN exit polls are a combination of in-person interviews with voters on Election Day and in-person interviews, as well as telephone and online surveys, measuring the views of early and absentee voters.

They were conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the National Election Pool. In-person interviews on election day were conducted in a random sample of 279 polling stations.

The results also include interviews with early and mail-in voters conducted in person at 27 early voting locations, by telephone or online between October 24 and November 2. The results for the entire sample of 16,604 respondents have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points; It is larger for subgroups.

The headline and post have been updated with the latest exit poll data.