With the presidential election more than six months away, many Republican voters have deep doubts not only about whether President Joe Biden is eligible for a second term, but whether he can win re-election fair and square.
“I think the powers that be on the Democratic side have found a way to circumvent democracy,” said Darlene Anastas, 69, of Middleboro, Massachusetts.
Inquiry after request It found that a large percentage of Republican voters believe the only reason Joe Biden is president is because of voter fraud and Democratic dirty tricks, buying former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election.
Trump continues to stoke these fires in his campaign.
He often makes false claims About the 2020 election performance and tended towards it defends his supporters Rioting at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. In an interview with Time this week, he said he would have a hard time hiring anyone who believes Biden has legitimately won 2020: “I wouldn’t feel good about it.”
And Trump on Wednesday he said he may not accept the results of the presidential elections this time either.
“If everything was honest, I would be happy to accept the results,” Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. If not, you should fight for the rights of the country.”
Trump’s last suspicions came to an end on January 6 and continue to this day. Now there is a new era of skepticism, again being pushed by Trump and many others in the Republican Party. As interviews with 50 Republican voters in more than a dozen states show, the views are firmly rooted in many of their followers.
Most voters who spoke to NBC News said they were not ready to take Biden’s victory as legitimate, potentially leading to another presidential election — and a potentially volatile outcome — because a large portion of the public refused to believe the results.
Trump himself would not deny the possibility of violence around the election in an interview with “Time”: “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fair conduct of the election.”
Democrats are “cheating like crazy,” said George Crosby, 72, of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, a veteran. “I think they’ve cheated before and I think they’re going to try to do it again because they’re a bunch of communists.”
“There’s no way Biden could have legally won … without unfair means,” said James Russon, 38, of Eagle Mountain, Utah. He added that the only way Biden could win would be “cheating” or “a lot of dead people voting.”
Randall Minicola, 62, of Las Vegas, said it would be “impossible” for Biden to win.
“I don’t think he has a following. I mean, you look at who’s behind him – the only thing he’s got is the ghosts behind him. This is what I believe. But where are the supporters? Are they in the basement with him? I don’t think so,” said Minikola.
The prospect of another election, in which many Republicans refuse to accept a Biden victory, has also been fueled by influential conservatives.
“An old man can’t be elected in the most powerful country in the world unless he’s a fraud,” said former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Lformer Friedman Podcast“ In March.
“Who would vote for an old man?” Carlson asked. “He literally can’t talk.”
Republican voters who said they didn’t believe Biden could win in 2024 often cited their doubts about the 2020 results as reason to be skeptical again. But they had three more driving concerns: Biden’s age and mental training, mistrust of the electoral process and information from social media.
‘There are a few bubbles from the centre’
Questions about Biden’s mental and physical fitness for the job have come up consistently this election cycle. Biden, 81, would become the oldest president ever if re-elected. Trump, 77, would also be the oldest.
The latest NBC News national survey, an April 12-16 survey, finds Americans have low confidence in Biden’s mental and physical health. Only 26% of those polled chose Biden over Trump when asked which candidate had the mental and physical health to be president. 45 percent went with Trump, while 26 percent said neither candidate is capable of anything.
The fact that some Republican voters believe that Biden is mentally unfit for the job also convinces them that he cannot win.
Martha O’Hara, 64, of Parker, Colorado, said when asked why she didn’t believe Biden could win this term without cheating, she said it was “because he can’t complete a sentence.”
“I just don’t think he has the ability to have an effective debate where you can understand the subject,” he said. “I just don’t think he’s mentally capable.”
Cheryl Pulice, 61, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, echoed O’Hara’s sentiments.
“Oh, no, no,” Pulice said when asked if Biden could legitimately win. “Cognitively, he is not well. I am surprised that he was not forced to resign at this point.”
“There are a few bubbles outside the center,” said Nancy Glave, 45, a hospital worker from Tucson, Arizona. He voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but is supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this year.
Distrust of voting machines
After the 2020 election, prominent conspiracy theorists and Trump lawyers made extraordinary claims about the voting machines, alleging that the election was rigged by a global organization. corporations and foreign communists. Trump’s lawyers have promised evidence but provided none, which has led in part to the failure of dozens of lawsuits seeking to overturn the election results.
Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, the voting machine companies that have repeatedly been accused of rigging the election, have responded with dozens of defamation lawsuits against Trump allies and conservative media outlets.
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems reached out $787.5 million settlement last year. The lawsuit has made public emails showing that Trump’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, offered an email from a person identified as an “internally hacked” time traveler as evidence of Dominion’s alleged election fraud.
In a statement at the time of the settlement, Fox said it recognized the court’s earlier ruling that some of the claims it made about Dominion were “false.”
But unsubstantiated theories persist, and some voters are still unsure.
“I am also very worried about cars, any electronics [machines]said Ellen Streiff, 57, of Glendale, Ariz. Streiff also plans to endorse Republican Kari Lake for Senate; spread false claims about voting machines After his failed bid for governor in 2022.
Kelly Hicks, The 41-year-old Trump supporter from Litchfield, New Hampshire, said the embrace of voting machines fueled his lack of confidence in Biden’s ability to win fair and square.
“We see an increase in the number of machines used in our previous elections,” Hicks said. He added that he believes not enough reforms have been made since 2020 to make 2024 a fair fight.
The US has been using voting machines for decades, and despite countless investigations and reviews by state and local authorities, there is no evidence of any fraudulent scheme involving them.
State lawmaker Michael Granger of Milton, New Hampshire, also cited the voting machines as a reason he was unsure whether this year’s results would be legitimate.
“It’s very difficult to prove one way or the other without checking all the votes,” said Granger, 33, a state representative. “All votes are counted for different municipalities. There are different procedures. Some places have cars; not in some places. It would be very difficult to prove it.”
The vast majority of US elections use voting machines – less than 0.2% of US registered voters live in jurisdictions. hand–count the ballots cis year. Pre-election accuracy checks and post-election audits are used to verify results. In Georgia, for example, voters vote by machine, but post-election audits count votes recorded on paper ballots.
Social media bubbles
As Republicans and Democrats absorb their political information through personally targeted social media algorithms, voters admitted to NBC News that their disbelief that Biden can legitimately win may stem from the content delivered to their phones.
“Maybe it’s the bubble I’m in and the algorithm I’m seeing,” said Davis Green, a financial analyst in Salt Lake City, when asked why he didn’t believe Biden could win fairly.
Green, 35, voted third-party in 2016 and 2020, but is backing Trump this year.
Joseph Murillo, 22, an air conditioning technician from Las Vegas, also took to social media to point out why he is skeptical of a Biden victory in 2020 and any victory in November.
“Maybe because my social media stuff tells me what I want to hear sometimes, you know, the algorithm,” Murillo said. “I don’t feel like there’s a fair way Biden can win.”
‘Everything is possible’
Michael Ferraro, 66, of Fairfax, Virginia, said he was skeptical of the 2020 vote-by-mail outcome.
“The 2020 mail-in ballots were not only confusing for citizens, but also for the people who counted the ballots,” he said.
However, Ferraro said his questions about the recent election won’t stop him from accepting the results this year, even if Trump doesn’t win, because he feels better about what will happen in November.
“I think more people are watching on both sides,” he said.
“At least where we live, I can say that there are more people in the polling stations. … People will be careful,” he added.
Paul Gleske, 61, of Berwick, Maine, also thinks it’s at least possible for Biden to win legitimately.
“It seems most people have already made up their minds; there’s a little lane in the middle,” said Gleske, predicting a tight race.
Dan Wilson, 69, a retired medical ethicist from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, who has supported Trump since 2016, said he couldn’t rule anything out.
“Anything is possible,” he said.
Janice Woerner, 51, a music teacher from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, thinks a legitimate Biden victory could be in the cards. But he is afraid of the future.
“If he is legitimately elected by our country,” Woerner said, “then all I have to say is heaven help us.”