High stakes: Voters say if their candidate doesn’t win, the country ‘will never recover’

The evolving presidential race carries high emotional stakes for voters on every side of the aisle.

A new survey, in fact, finds that 42% of registered voters agree that if their chosen candidate does not win, then “the country will never recover.” Republicans, independents and Democrats were in equal agreement here.

So says a new Yahoo poll, which also discovered that there a measurable number of voters who say nothing will happen to America because “it really doesn’t matter who is president.”

Here’s what the poll found:

• 41% of registered U.S. voters say that if their favored presidential candidate does not win, “the country will never recover”; 42% of Republicans, 42% of independents and 42% of Democrats agree.

• 37% overall say if their candidate loses, the country “will suffer for four years, then have a chance to change direction”; 35% of Republicans, 37% of independents and 40% of Democrats agree.

• 13% are not sure what will happen; 12% of Republicans, 11% of independents and 14% of Democrats agree.

• 8% overall say the country will stay the same because “it doesn’t really matter who is president”; 11% of Republicans, 9% of independents and 4% of Democrats agree.

Source: A Yahoo News poll of 1,500 registered U.S. voters conducted Oct. 30-Nov. 1.