Three in 10 still say Biden won because of voter fraud: survey

Story by Julia Mueller •  The Hill

Nearly three in 10 Americans in a new survey report believing President Biden only won the White House due to voter fraud, indicating that the concerns persist as the 2024 race revs up.

A Monmouth University poll found 30 percent think Biden won because of voter fraud, a result that “has been a nearly constant percentage” in the polling since the presidential election in November 2020. That figure includes 68 percent of Republicans.

Nearly six in 10 Americans, on the other hand, said they think Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.” Another 10 percent said they don’t know.

There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite unfounded claims to the contrary from former President Trump and his allies.

The poll also found that Republicans’ views on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol — amid the certification of the 2020 results — has changed in the two years since.

In June 2021, 62 percent of Republicans called the Capitol attack a “riot,” but that’s down to 44 percent in the latest poll.

And just 15 percent of Republicans say the incident is an “insurrection,” down from 33 percent two years ago. Democrats and independents have been “fairly consistent” in their descriptions of Jan. 6, the poll said.

“You basically start out with a majority of the Republican Party saying there were legitimate gripes about the 2020 election outcome, but two years ago most felt the violence of January 6 was taking things too far, even if it did not rise to the level of an insurrection in their minds. Now, that view has changed, which raises the question of what actions are acceptable when you are unhappy with a political outcome,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a release.

Trump, who lost his reelection bid to Biden and is running for another presidential term in 2024, has continued to tout debunked claims of fraud and a rigged election. As recently as a Monday interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, Trump said he won the 2020 race “by a lot.”

Biden is also running for another four years in the White House, setting them up for a possible rematch.

Conducted May 18 to 23 among 981 U.S. adults, the Monmouth University Polling Institute results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.