While inflation and immigration emerged as the dominant themes in this year's presidential race , another issue was prominent in the minds of voters for both major candidates the stakes for democracy .
Half of voters identified democracy as the single most important motivating factor for their vote. That was higher than the share of voters who answered the same way about inflation, the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border , abortion policy or free speech, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide.
Notably, backers of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump , the president-elect, saw the issue from different perspectives.
About two-thirds of Harris voters said the future of democracy was the most important factor for their votes. No other topic - high prices, abortion policy, free speech or the potential of the first woman to be elected as president - was as big a factor for her supporters. Harris especially leaned into this messaging toward the end of her campaign She said Trump was a threat to undermine the country's founding ideals and she called him a fascist .
The sentiment was supported by former members of the first Trump administration who warned about his fitness for office . Trump refused the peaceful transfer of power while lying about his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. And on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump also directed a mob of his supporters to the Capitol after telling them to "fight like hell."
