Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Majority of US voters say democracy is under threat but are split on who to blame, poll shows

Edward Helmore
THE GUARDIAN
Mon 28 October 2024 

A separate national poll published a day earlier found that Kamala Harris was deadlocked with Donald Trump as he seeks a return to the White House.Composite: AFP via Getty Images, AP


Nearly half of US voters think government does a poor job of representing ordinary people, half are skeptical that self-governance is working, and three-quarters think democracy is under threat, according to one of the last polls before the 5 November presidential election.

The survey, published on Sunday by the New York Times in collaboration with Siena College, sketched out a deeply divided political landscape. Both sides of the divide expressed distrust of the other – and doubts in general about the US’s brand of democracy.

But they come together with an overall perception: a majority said the country was plagued by corruption, with 62% saying that the government was mostly working to serve itself and elites than any broader purpose of collective good.


Fifty-eight per cent of voters in the survey indicated that the country’s financial and political systems needed major changes or a complete overhaul.

A separate national poll published a day earlier found that Kamala Harris was deadlocked with Donald Trump as he seeks a return to the White House – a slip of three points for the vice-president from a similar poll earlier in October.

That poll sparked fears among some that the Democratic candidate could lose the popular vote – a reversal of the four last elections. Both candidates stand at 48% nationally, down from 49% for Harris and up from 46% for Trump weeks earlier.

One glimmer of positivity from the latest poll surveying trust in US democracy: nearly 80% of voters from both main parties and independents said they trusted the results next week would be accurate, despite Trump’s sustained efforts to question the integrity of the vote in this race and the one he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

That’s an improvement from two years ago, when only about 70% said they were confident in the results.

But the survey figures also pointed to a deep distrust of the information universe: 21% said the mainstream media was good for democracy, and 55% said it was bad. For social media, 21% of poll respondents said it was good for democracy, and 51% said it was bad.

Assigning overall blame for the division depended on political affiliation, the Times’ poll found.

Democrats defined Trump as the central threat to democracy. Republicans viewed Harris, Biden and Democrats in general as bad for democracy – but also pointed to a subset of concerns including voting by mail, electronic voting machines, immigration and the justice department.

The Times suggested that the Democratic concern about Trump could explain why Harris’s campaign has shifted its initial euphoric tone to a sustained message about a Trump victory representing “a dark slide into fascism”.

Twenty-one per cent – 9% less than two years ago – said it was permissible for a president to go outside the rule of law to achieve their ends. And six in 10 said they were not confident that Trump would accept the results of the 5 November vote if he lost.

Related: ‘Expect war’: leaked chats reveal influence of rightwing media on militia group

But the poll also found that voters did “not necessarily believe” some of Trump’s most inflammatory rhetoric, though experts on authoritarianism have cautioned that it should be taken seriously.

Under half said they believed his threat to use the national guard to handle what Trump has called the “enemy from within”. But three-quarters said they took his threats to deport undocumented immigrants in large scale seriously.

Separately, a CNN poll published on Monday found that 56% of registered voters said they had just some or no trust in the US supreme court and its conservative majority – including three justices appointed during Trump’s presidency – to make the right decisions on any legal cases relating to the 2024 election.

Majority of voters say American democracy is ‘currently under threat’: Poll

Sarah Fortinsky
THE HILL
Sun 27 October 2024 




More than three-quarters of Americans say democracy is currently under threat, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll.

Seventy-six percent of likely voters say democracy is “currently under threat,” while only 20 percent say it’s not under threat. Another four percent say they don’t know or refused to answer.

Americans are divided, however, about what the nature of the threat is.

Asked to summarize the nature of the threat, 21 percent say Donald Trump; 14 percent say the government or government corruption; 7 percent say immigrants or immigration; 6 percent say loss of constitutional liberty or damage to institutions; 5 percent say instability or express general sentiments about how bad things are; 5 percent say Democrats; 3 percent say Kamala Harris; 3 percent say Joe Biden; 3 percent say foreign policy/war; 3 percent say misinformation or election denialism; 3 percent say social/political divisions; and no other reason had more than 2 percent support.

The likely electorate is split on which party is good for democracy, with 45 percent saying each party is good for democracy. Twenty-nine percent say Democrats are bad for democracy, and 23 percent say they’re neither bad nor good for democracy; while 26 percent say Republicans are bad for democracy, and 25 percent say they are neither bad nor good for democracy.

The survey comes at the end of a campaign where both sides have said the other is bad for democracy.

The survey included 2,516 voters nationally and was conducted from Oct. 20 to 23. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 




2 new polls show Harris leading Trump as the election nears. Women continue to propel the VP's candidacy.

John L. Dorman
Sun 27 October 2024


Kamala Harris' strength with female voters is fueling her overall leads in two new national polls.


A CBS News poll showed Harris up by one point, while an ABC News poll had her ahead by four points.


The presidential race remains close as Harris and Donald Trump stump across the US for votes.


With the US presidential election a little over a week away, the race remains close. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are crisscrossing the country to reach as many voters as possible.

In two major national polls released on Sunday, Harris held narrow advantages over Trump.

In a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, Harris had a four-point lead over Trump (51% to 47%) among likely voters. And in the latest CBS News/YouGov poll, Harris led Trump by one point (50% to 49%) among likely voters.

Harris held a two-point edge in the previous ABC poll, while she held a three-point advantage in the previous CBS poll.

The results reflect a race where both candidates remain competitive in the seven major swing states as they work to turn out as many of their supporters as possible during the early voting periods.

Harris has leaned into the economy and reproductive rights as she makes her closing arguments before voters, while Trump has continued to drive home his message of tackling both inflation and immigration at the US-Mexico border.

With less than 10 days to go before Election Day, the latest survey results reveal just how much women continue to power Harris' lead.

The CBS poll showed Harris with a 12-point advantage (55% to 43%) over Trump among female likely voters. About 55% of female registered voters said Harris would be a strong president, compared to 45% of female voters who said she'd be a weak leader.

Male likely voters in the CBS survey backed Trump over Harris by nine points (54% to 45%), with 64% of male registered voters believing the former president would be a strong leader, compared to 36% who said he'd be weak.

Meanwhile, female registered voters were split down the middle regarding Trump's leadership qualities, with 50% of respondents believing he'd be a strong commander in chief and 50% of respondents saying he'd be a weak leader.

The ABC poll also showed a sizable gender gap, with Harris ahead of Trump by 14 points (56% to 42%) among women, while Trump led with men by a six-point margin (51% to 45%). The vice president was also buoyed by a 19-point lead (59% to 40%) with suburban women, a margin that — if it holds — could prove to be decisive in states like Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Former first lady Michelle Obama campaigned alongside Harris in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Saturday, where she warned against the abortion restrictions put into place by some states following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe. v. Wade.

Obama said she understood the frustrations that many voters had with the "slow pace of change" but implored them not to support Trump or a third-party candidate.

"If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage," she said. "Are you as men prepared to look into the eyes of the women and children you love and tell them that you supported this assault on our safety?"

 Business Insider


New poll finds most voters believe Trump won’t accept election loss

Rhian Lubin and Alicja Hagopian
Mon 28 October 2024 

The majority of American voters believe Donald Trump will not accept the 2024 presidential election result if he loses to Kamala Harris, according to a new poll.

The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, found that, if the former president loses next week, only 30 percent of all registered voters believe he will accept the result and concede to his opponent.

By contrast, 73 percent believe Harris will accept the election result if she loses.

Zeroing in on sentiment from Harris and Trump supporters, the poll found that 95 percent of Harris supporters do not believe Trump will concede if he loses. A majority (57 percent) of Trump supporters, however, believe he will concede and accept the result if he loses.

The poll also found the vast majority of American voters generally support the principle that candidates have an obligation to accept the election result. It found that 88 percent said losing candidates are obligated to concede once the results are certified in every state, compared to 12 percent who said they are not.

Among Trump supporters, 20 percent said they do not believe losing candidates have an obligation to accept the result compared to 3 percent among Harris supporters.

The poll also found that a majority of all voters have little or no confidence in the Supreme Court if legal challenges relating to the result end up reaching the nation’s highest court.

The polls have tightened as Election Day looms. The latest national New York Times poll has Harris leading by less than one percentage point.


The polls are currently neck-and-neck between Harris and Trump (REUTERS)

Trump is already trying to sow doubts in the outcome of the election.

Last week, he claimed he’s winning in the three key swing states ofMichigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania while speaking at a rally with Turning Point Action, an organization founded by far-right political activist Charlie Kirk.

“But I’m not supposed to say that,” Trump said. “Pretend it’s close, everybody has to. They’re afraid that if you hear that they’re not going to vote.

“I said, ‘Well, it’s a double-edged sword.’ If we’re leading by a lot, they won’t think about cheating as much,” he continued, referring to his often-repeated false claim that Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election.

“We’ve got to make these elections honorable and honest, and we’re going to do it.”

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