Little more than 1/4 of Republican voters have high confidence votes will be counted accurately in 2024: poll
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- Only 22% of Republican voters have high confidence that votes will be counted accurately in 2024.
- A new poll makes clear the effect Trump and his allies have had on public confidence in elections.
- In comparison, 71% of Democrats have high confidence.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies' repeated lies about the 2020 elections have zapped Republican confidence in the 2024 election, according to a new poll.
An AP/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found just barely over 1 out of 4 Republican voters (22%) have high confidence that votes in the 2024 election will be counted accurately. In comparison, 71% of Democrats have high confidence. In comparison, 32% of Republicans were highly confident votes would be counted accurately ahead of the 2016 election.
The poll further found that less than half of Americans (44%) have "a great deal" or "quite a bit" of confidence that votes will be counted accurately in 2024.
While respondents were not asked about Trump directly, his role cannot be understated. The Associated Press reported that in 2018, 54% of Republicans were highly confident in elections. It's not hard to figure out what changed.
As the current frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump has continued to press his lies about the 2020 presidential election. He has also pushed what would be fundamental overhauls to modern voting in the US, including virtually eliminating absentee or mail-in voting. The former president has repeatedly pushed to have Americans cast their ballots on only Election Day. He has also pushed for all paper ballots and all tabulations to be done on election day. Logistically, such proposals could be difficult for states to comply with without significantly more resources.
The Brennan Center for Justice estimated that replacing the remaining paperless machines would cost between $130 to $400 million.
The poll of 1,220 adults was conducted June 22-26 using a sample drawn from NORC's panel. The margin of error is +/- 3.9 percentage points, though it would increase for subsamples.