Many Americans remain pessimistic about the state of democracy in the US and the way its officials are elected, nearly two years after a divisive presidential election that sparked unfounded allegations of fraud and the violent attack on Capitol Hill.
Only about half of Americans trust votes in the upcoming midterm election to be counted accurately, a poll by the AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found, a figure slightly better than 4 in 10 on record. before the 2020 election.
Only 9% of adults think that democracy is working “extremely” or “very well”, while 51% think that it is not.
Unlike two years ago, Republicans now say more than Democrats that democracy is not working well. In 2020 it was 32% and this year it is 68%. For the Democrats, 63% said two years ago that democracy worked in the US, while now it is 40%.
After each presidential election, supporters of the losing candidate’s party may be disappointed. The 2020 case has been worse, with claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the Democrats stole the election.
However, there was no evidence of massive fraud involving the manipulation of voting machines. Repeated investigations in key states reaffirmed the victory of Democrat Joe Biden, while judges, many of them appointed by Trump, dismissed numerous lawsuits against the results of the elections.
Trump’s own Attorney General, William Barr, said the allegations were false.
The widespread discouragement about democracy comes after decades of growing political polarization across the country, from campaigns for the presidency and Congress to venues like school boards.
Overall, only a quarter of adults, whether Republican or Democrat, say they are optimistic about how their leaders are chosen, while 43% expressed pessimism. An additional 31% feel neither optimistic nor pessimistic.
The AP-NORC poll also found that a large segment of Republicans, 58%, still believe Biden’s election was illegitimate. That is less than the 66% registered in July 2021.
The poll found that 47% of Americans say they have “great” or “fairly” confidence that the results of the 2022 midterm election are accurate.
Confidence is highest among Democrats at 74%, but among Republicans 25% are very confident, 30% moderately confident, and 45% have little or no confidence.
The survey of 1,121 adults took place from October 6-10, using a sample from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, created to represent the US population.
The margin of error is plus/minus 3.8 percent.
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