If you’ve been following the news, you know that Donald Trump seems to have already conceded that he’s going to lose the Nov. 8 presidential election and has moved on to claiming that the only reason that he lost is because Hillary Clinton cheated. A Politico/Morning Consult poll finds that this belief is also widespread among rank-and-file Republicans:
The American electorate has turned deeply skeptical about the integrity of the nation’s election apparatus, with 41 percent of voters saying November’s election could be “stolen” from Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud.
The new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll—conducted among 1,999 registered voters Oct. 13 through Oct. 15—shows that Trump’s repeated warnings about a “rigged” election are having effect: 73 percent of Republicans think the election could be swiped from him.
(The specific wording of the question: “Donald Trump has said that this election could be ‘stolen’ from him as a result of widespread voter fraud. Do you agree or disagree with his statement?”)
Accusations of electoral fraud aren’t a new thing in American politics, and Republicans aren’t the only ones who make them. The more pressing question going forward is whether the opposition party ends up letting bygones be bygones and working with the newly inaugurated president or instead seeks to brand his/her entire presidency as illegitimate. Having seen how House Republicans handled Bill Clinton’s second term, Obama’s entire eight years, and Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, I am not personally optimistic.
