A new poll released on Friday shows that most Americans do not believe GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump will accept the 2024 presidential election results if he loses.
The poll also demonstrates that most of his supporters will not accept that outcome, mirroring sentiments they held in the 2020 race that led to the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The ABC News/Ipsos poll asked respondents to answer whether they personally would accept any result of the 2024 presidential race. More than four in five adults (81 percent) said they would accept whatever outcome happens.
Respondents were also asked to predict whether the two major candidates for president would themselves be accepting of the outcome — 68 percent said the Democratic candidate for president and current Vice President Kamala Harris would accept the results, while only 29 percent said they believe Trump would. Two-thirds of respondents (67 percent) said they believe Trump won’t be prepared to accept the outcome.
The poll further asked if voters are confident that the upcoming election will be counted accurately, finding that just 65 percent believe the outcome will be correct, while 34 percent stated that they lack confidence in what the final results will be. Those numbers represent the highest rate of skepticism that the election will be counted accurately since the poll started asking the question in 2004.
There is a strong correlation between skepticism in the outcome of this year’s race and support for Trump, as the GOP candidate has pushed such conspiracy theories in the 2020 race and continues to do so today. Among those who say they are prepared to accept the results of this year’s election, the rate is higher for supporters of Harris (92 percent) but lower for backers of Trump (76 percent). Indeed, 21 percent of Trump supporters (accounting for 8 percent of voters overall) say they are not prepared to accept the 2024 election results.
The poll suggests that, should Trump legitimately lose the 2024 presidential race to Harris, a large portion of voters, close to 1 in 12 casting a ballot, will not accept the outcome.
Much like he did in 2020, Trump is laying the groundwork to dispute the 2024 presidential election. Trump has not provided any sound or rational basis for why the election should be viewed skeptically, repeating many of the same debunked talking points he peddled to his supporters nearly four years ago when he lost to President Joe Biden.
In April, Trump implied that there would be widespread “cheating” in the election, providing no evidence to back up his assertion. He also implied that, were it not for that supposed cheating, the 2024 election could be “canceled” entirely, adding that he would “win that election right now.”
During the Republican National Convention this summer, Trump continued to claim that the previous election was “rigged” against him — a statement that has no basis in truth whatsoever.
Such claims of fraud can have violent outcomes, as they did when Trump made similar declarations in the run-up to and after the 2020 presidential race.
After weeks of peddling lies about fraud in the 2020 election to his followers, Trump held a rally in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. There, he encouraged his enraged supporters to go to the Capitol directly, to protest in person as Congress was certifying Trump’s Electoral College loss to Biden. Before sending them off, Trump told his loyalists to “fight like hell” and that they couldn’t “take back our country with weakness.”
Thousands went on to storm the Capitol grounds, violently breaching into the building and disrupting the proceedings inside. Dozens of Capitol Police and other law enforcement were injured by Trump’s mob of loyalists. At least seven individuals died in connection to that day’s events.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.