In spite of the fact that the transition for President-elect Joe Biden has begun, President Donald Trump still refuses to acknowledge his election loss, going so far as posting seriously flawed polling data on his Twitter account that wrongly suggests the American people don’t want him to concede.
Trump formally announced he was “recommending” that General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy “do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols” to begin the transition process for President-elect Biden on Monday evening. But it was clear from comments he made later on that he has not given up his quest to contest the results of the presidential election.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that he and his legal team had a “big lawsuit” planned which would “[spell] out in great detail all of the ballot fraud and more.” So far, however, nearly all of Trump’s legal filings alleging fraud have been dismissed, with judges pointing to the lack of proof of fraud or election rigging of any kind. There’s no sign or proof from Trump that this new lawsuit would be any different.
Trump continued to share questionable justifications for why he shouldn’t acknowledge his election loss. On Tuesday evening, for example, the president tweeted the results from a highly biased Newsmax viewer poll.
Such polls are not scientific — their samples are biased because they rely on those already viewing the content to give their opinions, rather than seeking out a random sample of individuals to get a true understanding of how the public at large feels.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the Newsmax viewer poll found that 98.9 percent of those surveyed did not want Trump to concede the race. Trump shared the results of the poll on his Twitter account without context to create the impression that it was a legitimate scientifically conducted poll.
“Should President Trump concede to Biden? Poll Results: No: 190,593 (98.9%) Yes: 2,181 (1.1%),” Trump tweeted out.
Should President Trump concede to Biden? Poll Results: No: 190,593 (98.9%) Yes: 2,181 (1.1%) Total Votes: 192,774. @gregkellyusa @newsmax For the good of our Country we must prevail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2020
“For the good of our Country we must prevail!” Trump added.
In fact, most of the electorate wants Trump to concede. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released this week found that 58 percent of Americans think Trump should acknowledge his election loss, and Biden’s win. Within that same poll, 61 percent of respondents said that the mail-in ballot system was fair, and 57 percent said there was no systemic fraud in the election overall.
However, it’s far more likely that Trump will never concede, according to those who work close to him. White House officials speaking anonymously to USA Today revealed that getting Trump to agree to a transition was in itself an endeavor that required convincing. It may be the closest Trump gets to ever conceding, those aides suggested.
Indeed, late on Tuesday night, Trump told his followers on Twitter that his agreeing to a transition didn’t mean he was admitting he lost.
“What does GSA being allowed to preliminarily work with the Dems have to do with continuing to pursue our various cases on what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history?” Trump said. Without citing any proof that the election was fraudulent, Trump went on to say that he will “never concede” the race.
According to the most recent numbers, Biden’s win over Trump is quite decisive. The president-elect received more than 80 million votes overall, over 6 million more than what Trump received. According to state election returns, Biden also won the Electoral College by a margin of 306 to Trump’s 232.
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