While Trump has criticized House Speaker Paul Ryan for his negative response to several of Trump's controversial statements, a full third (34 percent) of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters say they would trust Ryan more to lead the Republican Party than the party's current presidential nominee.

Among Trump's own supporters, a quarter say they would trust Ryan more to lead the party. Among Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's supporters, 80 percent say they would trust Ryan more. This number is potentially consequential given Johnson's position as a potential spoiler-candidate in several critical states.

Throughout Election Night, a team of survey research analysts will be crunching the numbers on who voted, what issues were on their minds and why they voted the way they did.

The team includes Stephanie Psyllos, manager of exit polling, NBC News; Scott Keeter, senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center; Courtney Kennedy, director of survey research at Pew Research Center; Cary Funk, associate director of research at Pew Research Center; Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute; Maureen Michaels, president of Michaels Opinion Research Inc.; Mara Ostfeld, postdoctoral fellow, Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan; Patrick Egan, associate professor of politics and public policy at New York University; Hannah Hartig, assistant director, University of Pennsylvania's Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies; Jennifer Su, senior project director, Princeton Survey Research Associates International; and Andrew Arenge, assistant producer, NBC News. The NBC News Exit Poll Desk works closely with digital editors David Taintor and Elizabeth Johnstone to curate the stories we produce.