WASHINGTON: About half of all Republicans believe President Donald Trump “rightfully won” the US election but that it was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud that favoured Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.
The November 13-17 opinion poll showed that Trump’s open defiance of Biden’s victory in both the popular vote and Electoral College appears to be affecting the public’s confidence in American democracy, especially among Republicans.
Altogether, 73% of those polled agreed that Biden won the election while 5% thought Trump won. But when asked specifically whether Biden had “rightfully won,” Republicans showed they were suspicious about how Biden’s victory was obtained.
Fifty-two per cent of Republicans said that Trump “rightfully won,” while only 29% said that Biden had rightfully won.
Asked why, Republicans were much more concerned than others that state vote counters had tipped the result toward Biden: 68% of Republicans said they were concerned that the election was “rigged,” while only 16% of Democrats and one-third of independents were similarly worried.
Even before winning the 2016 election, Trump kept up a drumbeat of complaints about the process, claiming without evidence that it was unfair to him. Since Biden amassed enough electoral votes to win the White House on November 7, Trump has ramped up those criticisms, telling his supporters that he is the victim of widespread illegal voting.
Trump has failed to give any proof for his claims and has not been able to back them up in court, however. Republicans announced this week that they were dropping federal election lawsuits in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The poll showed that more Americans appear to be more suspicious about the US election process than they were four years ago. Altogether, 55% of adults in the United States said they believed the November 3 presidential election was “legitimate and accurate,” which is down 7 points from a similar poll that ran shortly after the 2016 election. The 28% who said they thought the election was “the result of illegal voting or election rigging” is up 12 points from four years ago.
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