Exit polls have been done in every American city where voters that used instant runoff voting (IRV) for the first time in 2004-2007. These elections were:

• San Francisco, California First used in November 2004 in elections for city council
• Burlington, Vermont: First used in March 2006 in elections for mayor
• Takoma Park, Maryland: First used in January 2007 in electing a city council vacancy
  
• Cary, North Carolina: First used in October 2007 in elections for city council and mayor
• Hendersonville, North Carolina: First used in November 2007 in elections for city council

The following chart provides a summary of exit surveys showing that voters both understand and like instant runoff voting by overwhelming numbers.

Jurisdiction	Understand IRV well or fairly well	Prefer IRV to city’s prior system2	Knew how to rank candidates before coming to vote
San Francisco1	87%	82%	69%
Burlington	89%3	78%	90%
Takoma Park	88%	89%4	84%
Cary	95%	72%	76%
Hendersonville	86%	71%	65%

1. Subsequent surveys in San Francisco in 2005 and 2006 showed continued high levels of support
2. Some voters had no opinion. Percentages of those expressing support for IRV over old system were: San Francisco (61%), Burlington (63%), Takoma Park (89%), Cary (68%) and Hendersonville (67%).
3. Measures voters who did not find the ballot confusing
4. 76% said would like IRV for all local and state elections; an additional 13% support it for local elections

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Exit poll survey sources:

San Francisco, CA
http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/election/Elections_Pages/SFSU-PRI_RCV_final_report_June_30.pdf

Burlington VT
http://www.betterballotcampaign.org/sites/fairvotemn.org/files/burlington_exit_poll_results.pdf
 
Takoma Park, MD
http://www.fairvote.org/reports/researchreports/takoma_2007exit_summary.pdf

Cary and Hendersonville, NC
http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/cobb/IRV%20Results_Tables.pdf

 

Instantrunoff.com is a project of FairVote Action.