CNN exit polls find voters in key races dissatisfied with Trump, concerned with economy

Voters cast their ballots at the Innovation Elementary School polling location in Arlington, Virginia, on November 4, 2025. Samuel Corum/Sipa USA/AP

Last November, Donald Trump won a return to the White House amid broad national dissatisfaction with the state of the country. A year later, preliminary CNN exit polling finds, the first major electoral tests of the second Trump presidency take place with voters expressing similar pessimism and anti-incumbent sentiments despite the turnover in the Oval Office.

Across four closely watched contests — the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral race in New York City and the redistricting-related Proposition 50 in California — majorities disapprove of Trump, with strong disapproval of his performance far outpacing strong appro