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Coronavirus Watch: Exit poll shows pandemic not top issue for voters

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

Many signs suggest a fall coronavirus surge may be in full swing, but a CNN exit poll suggests COVID-19 isn't a top issue for Americans this election year.

Only 1 in 6 voters cited the pandemic as most important to their vote, according to the poll. In comparison, one-third of voters named the economy as their most critical issue, and 1 in 5 cited racial equality. 

It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 2:30 p.m. ET:

  • For the second time since the onset of the pandemic, U.S. daily cases exceeded 90,000 on Tuesday, with 91,530 new infections, Johns Hopkins data shows. Daily cases peaked Oct. 30 at 99,321. The height of the summer surge saw 77,378 new daily cases on July 16.
  • North Dakota election officials say Republican candidate David Andahl, who died on Oct. 5 after he had been sick with COVID-19 for several days, won a state representative seat on Tuesday. 
  • The Republican candidate for Indiana attorney general won the election hours after testing positive for COVID-19, his campaign announced.
  • The chair of Britain’s coronavirus vaccine task force says data evaluating the efficacy and safety of the two most advanced candidates — developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and Pfizer and BioNTech — should be available in early December.
  • Across the Atlantic, new restrictions are in place in Austria, Greece and Sweden. Germany imposed a partial shutdown Monday, with Italy, France, Kosovo and Croatia also implementing tighter measures. England is scheduled to go back into lockdown on Thursday, though schools and universities are expected to stay open.
  • A half-million people in the English city of Liverpool will be regularly tested for COVID-19 in Britain’s first citywide trial of widespread, rapid testing that the government hopes will be a new weapon in combating the pandemic.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 9.4 million cases and 233,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 47.7 million cases and 1.2 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.

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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

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