Half of America Expects Midterm Election Fraud, Poll Results – GNT NEWS

Despite countless investigations, court hearings and forensic audits debunking claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, only one in three Americans believe the 2022 midterm elections will be largely fraud-free, according to a new national poll by LX News and YouGov.

Forty-nine percent of all Americans — including most Republicans and half of all self-described independents — believe there will be “a lot” or “some” fraud this fall, an indication of how widespread misinformation about the 2020 election has become and how trust in democracy eroded in just two years.

The survey also revealed:

• Democrats have more confidence in the integrity of elections than independents or Republicans, but one in three still believe there will be “a lot” or “some” fraud in the midterms
• Fifty percent of Democrats said they believed there would be “barely” or “none.”
• The elderly were the generation most likely to believe in the integrity of voting. Concerns about fraud were especially common among middle-aged Americans
• A quarter of all Americans say fraud will be significant enough this fall to change the balance of power in Congress. That includes 36% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats

Although scrutiny of election systems has increased in recent years, arrests for fraud have not. A study published by a Columbia University professor found that most of the fraud allegations were “false claims by the losers about a close race, mischief, and administrative or voter error.”

The conservative Heritage Foundation, which monitors cases of election fraud, detected only about 1,000 cases of fraud in the last 25 years — a rate equal to less than one case per million votes cast during that time.

What is the concern about voter fraud?

Americans’ concerns about voter fraud are not limited to just one theory of cheating.

LX News/YouGov poll found similar levels of concern among Americans for the following activities:

• 58% — people who vote more than once
• 55% — people who lie about their citizenship
• 54% — people using fake names
• 51% — people who vote for family members
• 50% — people who vote in a place where they do not live

Although election officials admit that it is impossible to catch every attempt at fraud, cases are extremely rare, thanks to the many systems designed to catch anomalies. Federal Agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security described the 2020 election as America’s safest and most secure ever.

Many local election officials welcome members of the public to learn about the voting process in person.

“The more people get involved in their local elections, the more they will see that the election process is secure,” said former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), now a member of the National Council on Election Integrity. “When you hear people talk about it [election fraud] conspiracy theories, it’s often because people aren’t familiar with how elections work.”

Confidence in mail-in ballots restored

Many Democrats say they are returning to pre-pandemic in-person voting habits, narrowing the gap between how the two parties vote.

An LX News/YouGov poll found that one in three Americans – including 39% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans – plan to vote by mail this fall.

Officials in some conservative states, such as Utahthey fully embraced postal voting, praising its popularity.

And in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump voted by mail, there is anecdotal evidence that Republicans have all but eliminated Democrats’ mail-in voting advantage:

• Three weeks before this year’s Election Day, 41% of mail-in ballots came from Democratic voters, compared to 38% from Republicans.
• Three weeks before Election Day 2020, Democrats had a 20-point lead on returned ballots

Campaign consultants tell LX News that getting party loyalists to vote by mail — or vote in person early — can benefit campaigns by allowing them to focus their “get out the vote” efforts on lukewarm supporters.

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Noah Pransky is the national political editor for LX News, covering Washington and state politics, with a special focus on young voters. His policy and research work has won national Murrow, Polk, DuPont, and Cronkite awards, and he can be reached confidentially at [email protected] or at Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.