Poll Finds ‘Election Denier’ Label Fails to Move Voters

Americans expressing concerns about election integrity are being labeled “deniers” by candidates, but Rasmussen finds the slur isn’t persuading other voters. Doubts about voting results persist and pose a growing threat to the republic.Although Democrats popularized the “denier” label, Republicans — always at a disadvantage when it comes to framing the narrative — have been quick to apply it to Georgia’s Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, who disputed her loss in the 2018 race.“Denier” has come into fashion as what author and cartoonist Scott Adams describes as a “rhetorical kill shot.” It carries connotations not of disagreement, but mental illness, and invokes the specter of Holocaust deniers in the minds of those who hear it.It’s used to shut down legitimate debate, and to lump those with questions about hanging chads in with those who — like hockey fans enraged by their team’s loss — will never accept a goal regardless of instant replay showing the puck crossing the line.Yet Americans have come too far and bled too much to ensure that “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth,” in President Lincoln’s words, to sit down and shut up now. They see being told to do so as a flashing red light on the dashboard of democracy.In a Monday tweet titled, “Welcome Election Deniers,” Rasmussen says, “The smart-set may think name calling will sway key Independent / Swing Voters from their legitimate concerns about Election Integrity & Election Cheating. Not with these numbers.”Of independent likely voters surveyed about their top midterm issues, 76 percent are “concerned” and 58 percent “very concerned” about election integrity.By comparison, that’s just nine points less than those “concerned” about the top issue, inflation, and a percentage higher than those “very concerned” about rising costs.This is on the heels of a Rasmussen finding earlier this year that 83 percent of all likely voters “believe the issue of election integrity will be important in this year’s congressional elections.”In a separate survey, Rasmussen found 56 percent of likely voters supported “audits” along the lines of those Arizona conducted during the disputed 2020 election, twice the 23 percent who were against ballot reviews. Another 21 percent were not sure, and are therefore unlikely to recoil at “denier” objections.It’s yet another Rasmussen poll that, when connected with the others, raises concerns about the trend of not accepting election results that began in the 2000 presidential election, continued in 2004, and ramped into high gear in 2016 and 2020.A full half of likely voters, 50 percent, “think it is at least somewhat likely there will be widespread cheating that will affect the outcome of this fall’s congressional elections, including 24 percent who say it’s very likely.”Fifty-nine percent “say making sure there is no cheating is more important” than “making it easier for everybody to vote” with moves such as mail-in voting, which, 65 percent said, “would lead to more cheating.”Although Democrats raged about stolen elections after 2000, 2004, and 2016, today Republicans have taken the baton, with 71 percent believing it’s “at least somewhat likely there will be widespread cheating” this fall, compared to 36 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of the unaffiliated.The trend looks set to grow stronger, with Rasmussen finding, “Voters under 40 are more likely than their elders to think widespread cheating will affect the outcome of this fall’s congressional elections.”A democracy where voters only accept the legitimacy of ballot counting when their side wins cannot long endure. It’s up to the major party machines and their candidates to restore faith in the sanctity of results, and a good start would be to stop name calling and address the legitimate concerns of the electorate.Charges that anyone who seeks an audit or wishes to tighten election results is a “denier” will only grease the skids for a slide into America becoming a banana republic, where supporters of losing candidates rage so winning ones can never claim a mandate to govern — what would be a kill shot for democracy.

Poll Finds ‘Election Denier’ Label Fails to Move Voters

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