Most say US election was free and fair — but it depends on political party, poll finds
Americans’ views on whether the election was free and fair — despite a lack of evidence to support claims that it wasn’t — are largely divided along partisan lines, a poll found.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll of 1,987 registered voters conducted from Nov. 6-9 found the majority of respondents overall think the 2020 presidential election between President Donald Trump and now President-elect Joe Biden was a “free and fair election.” The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Sixty percent of registered voters surveyed answered it was free and fair election — with 39% who said it was “definitely” free and fair and 21% who said it “probably” was.
Meanwhile, 13% said it was “probably not” free and fair and 21% said it was “definitely not.”
Elections officials representing both parties from nearly all states say there has been zero evidence that fraud or “other irregularities” played any role in the election outcomes, The New York Times reports.
The poll broke the results down by party and found significantly more Republicans were doubtful of the election’s integrity than Democrats.
While 90% of Democrat or Democrat-leaning voters surveyed said the election was either “definitely” or “probably” free and fair, 28% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said the same.
Only 7% of Democrat or Democrat-leaning voters answered that the election was “probably” or “definitely” not free and fair. Meanwhile, 68% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters answered the same.
Trump casts unfounded doubt on results
Trump and his allies have lodged unfounded claims that the election was fraudulent and have attempted to sow doubt about the results.
The Associated Press and other media outlets called the election for Biden on Saturday after he was projected to win Pennsylvania’s 20 Electoral College votes, which were enough to put him over the 270-vote threshold needed to win.
The media has called the presidential race — using the vote count and research on demographics and voting history and statistics — in every election since 1848, according to the Associated Press. The Electoral College officially picks the president later, but its official process takes weeks.
Trump, however, hasn’t accepted the results of the 2020 election and has indicated he has no intention of conceding to Biden, who has 290 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 214 so far.
His campaign has requested recounts and filed lawsuits in multiple battleground states and has said they will try to bring the election to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the campaign has so far not been successful in court battles over the election outcome and hasn’t presented substantial evidence of voter fraud, NPR reports.
Additionally, a poll from Reuters/Ipsos found 80% of Americans — including more than half of Republicans — recognize that Biden is the winner of the presidential election. Another 13% think the election hasn’t been decided and only 3% said they believe Trump is the winner, according to Reuters.
The poll surveyed 1,363 U.S. adults between Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 and has a credibility interval of 5 percentage points, Reuters reports.
What voters thought of past elections
The Politico/Morning Consult poll also asked respondents whether they thought previous elections were free and fair.
Of registered voters surveyed, 53% said the 2016 election between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton was free and fair and 33% said it was not.
While 72% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said it was free or fair, 39% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters said it was. Half of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters said it wasn’t free and fair while 15% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said the same.
Trump won 304 Electoral College voters in 2016 compared to Clinton’s 227. She won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes.
Clinton conceded to Trump the morning after election night after the race was called by news outlets and gave a speech encouraging her supporters to accept the result.
Seventy-two percent of participants in the Reuters/Ipsos poll think the loser of the election “must concede defeat,” Reuters reports.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 8:06 AM with the headline "Most say US election was free and fair — but it depends on political party, poll finds."
