Trump sank GOP trust in U.S. elections by more than 40 points

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It’s now standard practice for Donald Trump and his henchmen to declare a “stolen” election in advance of every big contest with national implications. And a recent NBC News poll shows that Trump’s incessant and baseless lying about 2020 has primed Republican voters to believe something is afoul whenever an election doesn’t go their way.

The NBC poll released this week found that Trump eroded Republicans’ faith in the notion that their voted will be counted accurately by more than 40 points from October 2020 to October 2021.

“Last year, 84 percent of Republicans said they were confident in the vote count, about on par with Democrats. But now, 41 percent of Republicans share that view, while 50 percent say they are not confident their vote will be counted accurately,” writes NBC.

That giant drop in confidence is anomalous among Republicans. Confidence among independents that their vote will be counted, for instance, dropped by less than 10 points since last year—from 84% confident last year to 76% confident this year. That’s a notable dent, but it pales in comparison to the rise in distrust among Republicans.

Republican views of whether Joe Biden was legitimately elected also stood apart in the poll, with a meager 22% of them saying Biden’s victory was legitimate, while 71% of independents and 93% of Democrats believe Biden was legitimately elected.

Overall, two-thirds of all Americans said they were confident their vote would be counted fairly compared to 85% who said that last year—a nearly 20-point decrease mainly attributable to Republicans.

Trump’s success in stoking distrust of U.S. elections among his fervent base now poses a domestic terror threat to the country. Earlier this week, a PRRI poll found 30% of Republicans agreed with the idea that “true American patriots might have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” The sentiment was particularly high among those who said they believed 2020 was “stolen” from Trump, with 39% of that cohort endorsing potential violence.