A new analysis has shown that over half of Americans will vote for a candidate at the state- or federal level who denies the results in the 2020 presidential election. This is a worrying indicator of the danger to democracy in the United States.
According to FiveThirtyEight, hundreds of millions of voters will see candidates for the House, Senate, governor, secretary of state and attorney general who erroneously believe Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The publication called every Republican nominee in those races and found that they will be on the ballots in almost every state this fall.
Out of 529 nominees that the publication surveyed, 195 “fully denied” the election results, either by saying so or by joining legal attempts to have the election overturned. Sixty-one candidates didn’t explicitly deny the results of the election, but raised questions about widespread election fraud, of which there is zero evidence.
This is far greater than the number of GOP candidates that are in line of reality and accept the election results. FiveThirtyEightOnly 71 candidates had accepted the results. 87, however, still doubt the integrity of the election.
Overall, 256 candidates polled fully or partially denied the election results, while 158 candidates agreed to it. This is a difference between 48 percent and roughly 30 percent.
The publication found that many of these candidates are likely to win. There are good chances for 126 doubters or deniers for the House, three senatorial candidates, and at least six gubernatorial contenders.
“[A]n election denier winning [an] election and taking office is more than a symbolic concern,” FiveThirtyEight noted. “An election-denying secretary of state could refuse to certify an election that he or she believes was rigged. An election-denying governor could try to submit votes that are not in accordance with the will of voters. And election-denying senators and representatives could vote to count those electoral votes.”
A Bloomberg analysisposted on Tuesday similarly found that about 254 sitting lawmakers and congressional Republican nominees deny results. Some of these nominees are expected to assume office in key battleground states like Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where states’ electoral votes could go a long wayin determining the future results of presidential elections.
These candidates’ stances also raise questions about what the results of the midterm elections may look like, as many of them may also deny the results of their own election if they lose the vote.
It is alarming that so many Republicans have embraced a lie about the 2020 election, and the legitimacy of American elections as a whole, just because their preferred candidate lost.
Observers warn that democracy is at risk itself is at stake, voting rights experts say that, though 2020 saw a narrow miss with the GOP’s attempted coup, future presidential elections could see more open and potentially successful coup attempts — ones that were authorized, in part, by voter suppression laws passed by conservatives in dozens of states in reaction to Trump’s revolt against American voters.
Attempts to erode and replace democracy are especially concerning considering the right’s fast decline into fascism. Many indications show that the Republican Party’s most extremist voices — which currently appear to be dictating the direction of the party — are aiming to implement an oppressive regime grounded in violent white supremacist, classist and anti-LGBTQ ideologies.
