A sizable portion of Republican voters continue to believe the baseless claim that former President Donald Trump lost the November election due to widespread voter fraud. Trump and his loyalist supporters have repeatedly pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about ballot dumps and voting machines changing votes, but there is no evidence to support these claims. However, the claims have led many Americans to question the integrity of the election and the overall political system.
The latest poll published Monday by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that just 36 percent of Republicans believe that democracy is working well. More precisely, only 10 percent of Republicans believe democracy is working very or extremely well, while 26 percent believe it’s working somewhat well.
Overall Americans are not impressed with the current state of democracy in the U.S. Only 54 percent of American adults believe its working well, with just 16 percent saying its working very or extremely well. Democratic voters are more optimistic, with 70 percent saying democracy is working well but just 22 percent saying its working very or extremely well.
When it comes to President Joe Biden, 42 percent of Republicans believe he respects the nation’s democratic institutions. More than twice as many Democrats—96 percent—believe Biden respects democratic institutions, while 70 percent of American adults overall believe the same. Notably, just 37 percent of Americans believe Trump respects democratic institutions, while 62 percent say the former president does not have much respect for them or none at all.
The polling of Republicans aligns with other recent surveys. Morning Consult’s tracking poll from January 25 showed that just 33 percent of Republicans said they had “some” or “a lot” of trust in U.S. elections. Polling conducted from January 8 to 11 by Vox and Data for Progress showed that 49 percent of Republicans doubted the election outcome and did not believe Biden should be inaugurated.
Ahead of the November election, Trump and many of his Republican supporters repeatedly criticized mail-in ballots—claiming they would lead to widespread fraud. They pushed those claims despite multiple in-depth reports and investigations showing that voter fraud is extremely rare in the U.S. Following Biden’s win, Trump and his allies continued to push the false claims.
However, the allegations were thoroughly litigated and were rejected by dozens of state and federal courts. Even judges appointed by Trump and other Republicans pointed out that lawyers had not provided evidence to support claims of widespread fraud. Former Attorney General William Barr, who was widely viewed as one of Trump’s most loyal and effective Cabinet members, asserted in December that there was “no evidence” of voter fraud that would change the election outcome.
