Most Republicans Say They Doubt the Election. How Many Really Mean It? - The New York Times

Survey research tries to sort out the typical partisan reactions to a loss from an erosion of trust that may be more lasting. By Emily Badger Since the election, surveys have consistently found that about 70 percent to 80 percent of Republicans don’t buy the results. They don’t agree that Joe Biden won fair and square. They say the election was rigged. And they say enough fraud occurred to tip the outcome. Those numbers sound alarmingly high, and they imply that the overwhelming majority of people in one political party in America doubt the legitimacy of a presidential election. But the reality is more complicated, political scientists say. Research has shown that the answers that partisans (on the left as well as on the right) give to political questions often reflect not what they know as fact, but what they wish were true. Or what they think they should say. It’s incredibly hard to separate sincere belief from wishful thinking from what political scientists call partisan cheerleadin

Survey research tries to sort out the typical partisan reactions to a loss from an erosion of trust that may be more lasting. By Emily Badger Since the election, surveys have consistently found that about 70 percent to 80 percent of Republicans don’t buy the results. They don’t agree that Joe Biden won fair and square. They say the election was rigged. And they say enough fraud occurred to tip the outcome. Those numbers sound alarmingly high, and they imply that the overwhelming majority of people in one political party in America doubt the legitimacy of a presidential election. But the realit