Will the upcoming presidential election in Uncle Sam’s country be conducted fairly and equitably? Yes, but… A recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that more than half of Americans expect the November presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to be conducted in accordance with democratic standards. For the former president’s supporters, however, nothing is less certain.
The survey revealed that 61% of respondents have some or a lot of confidence in democratic processes and expect the presidential election to be conducted in a “fair and accurate” manner. In fact, the proportion of participants sharing this point of view has not changed much since 2020 and 2022, according to the organization.
However, there is an increase in the number of people who believe that “all citizens who want to vote will be able to do so”. Since April 2020, this proportion has increased from 63% to 76% in the most recent survey, carried out last July.
Surprisingly, views on the fairness and truthfulness of the electoral process were completely reversed between Republicans and Democrats between 2020 and 2024. In that first year, when Donald Trump, then a candidate for re-election, was already crying fraud on the part of the Democrats, fewer than one supporter of Joe Biden’s party trusted the electoral process; this rate was rather 75% among Republicans.
Since then, in the wake of the continuation of the completely unfounded accusations that the Democrats “stole” the election, depriving Donald Trump of a second presidential term, it is rather the Democrats who, at 77%, judge that the election will be fair and equitable. Republicans, for their part, are only 47% to share this point of view, the other half having probably drunk to the dregs the chalice of Donald Trump’s shameless lies, lies which have been repeated on an almost daily basis for four years.
These same lies led to the riot of January 6, 2001, when supporters of the defeated Republican candidate tried to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, nearly derailing this essential process, with violence and deaths in tow.
And Democrats are less likely (71% vs. 83%) to believe that all citizens who wish to exercise their right to vote will be able to do so. For a long time, in fact, Republican authorities, whether at the federal or state level, have been trying to put obstacles in the way of certain populations in order to prevent them from going to the polls, thereby benefiting Republican voters.
