30% of Americans, 68% of Republicans Say 2020 Elections Were Stolen From Donald Trump Shows Survey
08:35 GMT 01.11.2021 (Updated: 04:36 GMT 02.11.2021)
© REUTERS / RACHEL MUMMEY
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Around three in ten Americans surveyed, or 31 percent, believe the November 2020 elections were stolen from Donald Trump, a poll by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute shows. This figure includes over two-thirds of Republicans, or 68 percent.
The findings are seen as appearing to correlate with respondents' preferred news sources, as 82 percent of those who place their trust in Fox News more than any other media outlet, shared the stance that the 2020 election had been "stolen" or "rigged", as the ex-POTUS himself has repeatedly stressed.
Among respondents who showed trust in right-wing outlets like One America Network and Newsmax, 97 percent agreed with this view, also supported by 26 percent of independents and just 6 percent of Democrats.
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. U.S.
© AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana
As to the correlation with religious beliefs, according to the PRRI study, a majority of white evangelicals, 60 percent, also believe Trump was denied his rightful triumph in the re-election bid. The results of the 2020 US presidential election were decried as fraudulent by former President Donald Trump, who refused to concede to Democrat Joe Biden, and Republicans in several states are still trying to verify the claims of widespread voting irregularities. However, they have fallen short of finding solid proof to back the accusations.
Furthermore, almost one-third of Republicans are of the opinion that violence may be needed to solve America's plethora of problems, as almost one in five, or 18 percent, of overall respondents agreed with the statement:
"Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country".
This figure included 30 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of Democrats, and 17 percent of independents. White evangelicals were also the religious group most likely to think that "true American patriots might have to resort to violence in order to save our country", with 26 percent saying they agree.
PRRI's 12th annual American Values Survey (AVS), released Monday, was carried out between 16 and 29 September via online interviews with a random sample of 2,508 adults residing in all 50 US states. The survey results shed light on Americans' attitudes toward a variety of issues seen as increasingly dividing the nation and believed to impact the 2022 midterm elections. The survey also underscored the impact of media on trends in partisan and religious affiliation.
Robert Jones, CEO and founder of PRRI, believes that the results illustrate the "significant and rapidly increasing polarisation in the United States".
"I've been doing this a while, for decades, and it's not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you're used to seeing", said Jones.
The results of the poll were published as more than 650 people have been arrested so far in connection with the January 6th storming of the US Capitol – an event that Democrats have persisted in blaming Donald Trump for. The Dems have insisted his claims of voter fraud incited the so-called insurrection which had interrupted the electoral count certifying Joe Biden's victory in the November 2020 presidential elections.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump gather outside the Michigan State Capitol to demand an audit of 2020 election votes, in Lansing, Michigan, U.S. October 12, 2021.
© REUTERS / REBECCA COOK
Trump himself denied culpability in the incident that left five people, including a Capitol police officer, dead. Although Trump underscored he was among the first to condemn the actions of the mob, dissatisfied with the election results, Democrats controlling the House impeached the then president on the grounds of these claims, but Trump managed to dodge conviction during the trial in the GOP-dominated Senate.
The House of Representatives narrowly voted to create a Select Committee to investigate the January 6th Capitol riot on 30 June. Earlier this month, the White House blocked Trump's request to withhold documents about the January 6th unrest. The decision authorises the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to hand over documents requested by the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack.
Trump subsequently sued the House panel for its inquiry, describing it as illegal while charging the panel's requests for documents from the Executive Branch as "unprecedented in their breadth and scope and… untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose".
