Do Americans agree with Donald Trump that the political system is “rigged”? According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, an increasingly larger number do.
“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,” reports Politico.
Morning Consult surveyed nearly 2,000 registered voters and found that a strong majority of Republicans, 73 percent, now believe the election could be unfairly taken from him. Voter fraud concerns are far less prevalent among Democrats, only 17 percent of whom believe fraud might determine the outcome of the election. However a total of 60 percent of respondents agree that it’s “necessary to raise questions about the accuracy of the election results, because the election could be compromised by voter fraud or a foreign government.”
Overall, only 28 percent of all registered voters feel “very confident” that their votes will be counted accurately, including 44 percent of Clinton supporters and only 15 percent of Trump supporters. The same percentage of Trump supporters say they are “not at all confident” that their votes will be properly counted, while 9 percent overall share that pessimism.
Rather than the widespread reports of voter fraud that have been circulating over the last few months, Politico blames the increased skepticism about the election on Trump’s “rigged” mantra, which he has been hammering more than ever in recent weeks:
The public sentiment is beginning to reflect Trump’s campaign message. Over the last week, the GOP nominee has intensified his criticism of the U.S. electoral system, much to the chagrin of elected Republicans, who think it threatens the peaceful transfer of power. Trump calls the process rigged, and has said the media is colluding with Hillary Clinton to throw the presidential race in her favor.
Morning Consult also asked voters how they felt about the media’s role in the election and found that 60 percent of Republicans believe it is biased against Trump, while 33 percent overall felt that way.
As for the national election, Morning Consult got similar results with the other national polls, finding Clinton ahead by about 5 percent and Democrats leading in the generic ballot:
In the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, which included interviews with 1,737 likely voters, Clinton is beating Trump by 5 percentage points in a two-way race, 46 percent to 41 percent. In the four-way contest, Clinton is beating Trump 42 percent to 36 percent, with 10 percent supporting Gary Johnson and 3 percent supporting Jill Stein.
Voters favor Democrats for Congress, as they lead the GOP, 45 percent to 38 percent, in the generic ballot test.