A majority of Republican voters—67 percent—across the country believe the 2020 presidential election was invalid, according to a new poll by the R Street Institute and the Tyson Group. Seventy-five percent of respondents also oppose alternative voting methods like vote-by-mail and voter drop boxes.

“In the wake of the contentious November 2020 election, it’s more important than ever to defend the principles that underpin our democracy. That starts with understanding voters’ feelings about the legitimacy and administration of the election,” said Jonathan Bydlak, interim director of the R Street Institute’s governance program. “Following Donald Trump’s loss, a significant portion of the electorate, primarily Republican voters, still distrust our election systems.”

From the Tyson Group’s memo:

“President Trump’s rhetoric seems to have had a profound impact on his base’s outlook on the election. Across all regions, our participants by and large opposed alternative voting methods, believed that those methods opened the election process to fraud, and felt that the 2020 election result was invalid. But despite parroting those claims, these same voters were satisfied with how they cast their own ballot. It’s a fascinating look into how impressionable the average voter is: Republicans across the country have been convinced that election fraud happened somewhere, just not in their state.”

Key findings:

State Election Day Voting Early Voting Mail-In Voting
Arizona 26 percent 22 percent 52 percent
North Carolina 33 percent 57 percent 9 percent
Georgia 31 percent 52 percent 16 percent
Florida 35 percent 45 percent 21 percent
Wisconsin 66 percent 15 percent 19 percent
Pennsylvania 83 percent 4 percent 13 percent

 

Read more about the poll here. National crosstabs can be found here. Swing state crosstabs are available upon request.

Methodology:

From Jan. 25 through Feb. 5, the Tyson Group conducted an N = 1200 nationwide survey of likely Republican voters. Additional interviews were conducted (N = 300 likely Republican voters) in the swing states of Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. These voters were reached by live callers on both landlines and cell phones. The margin of error was 2.83% on the national poll and 5.66% on the state-specific samples.

Image credit:  Lost_in_the_Midwest

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