Associated Press
For Christopher Pugh, the 2020 election was a turning point.
He already distrusted the government. But as he watched Fox News coverage in the immediate aftermath of the election and read posts on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X, that distrust grew. He now believes the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen and trusts few people other than former President Donald Trump to deliver him news about election results.
“I trust Donald Trump, not the government,” said the 38-year-old Republican from Gulfport, Mississippi. “That’s it.”
While most Americans trust government-certified election results at least a “moderate” amount, Republicans are more likely to trust Trump and his campaign, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts. Americans also are heading into the November election with concerns about misinformation. Many have low trust that the information they receive from presidential candidates — particularly Trump, but also Vice President Kamala Harris — is based on factual information.
Trump continues to lie about the outcome of the 2020 election, saying it was rigged against him even after dozens of his court challenges failed, reviews, recounts and audits in battleground states all affirmed President Joe Biden’s win, and Trump’s own Attorney General said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Despite no evidence of any widespread fraud, a 2023 poll found that most Republicans believe Biden was not legitimately elected President.
As Trump runs as the Republican candidate for the third time, he also is signaling that he can only lose through widespread fraud. Over the weekend he threatened to prosecute those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election should he win in November.
“The only way they can beat us is to cheat,” Trump said at a Las Vegas rally in June.
The recent findings from the AP-NORC survey show that a significant chunk of Trump’s supporters might be more inclined to believe what he says about the upcoming election results than they are to trust government certifications of election results.
About two-thirds of Republicans trust Trump’s campaign at least a moderate amount to provide accurate information about the results of the 2024 election, while only about half say the same about the official certifications of results, the survey found. By contrast, about 9 in 10 Democrats trust the government certification at least a moderate amount, and an overwhelming majority, 82%, also have at least a moderate amount of trust in Harris and her campaign.
Most Americans — around 7 in 10 — trust the government certifications of election results at least a moderate amount, according to the survey. Majorities also trust national and local TV news networks, as well as local or national newspapers, to provide accurate information about the outcome of this year’s presidential election.
Danielle Almeida, a 45-year-old Democrat from Briarcliff Manor, New York, said she trusts government-certified election results and finds it alarming that some Americans don’t.
“In order to have a democracy, we have to trust the system and the results of our elections,” she said, adding that she thinks Trump “does not care about fact-checking because he believes his supporters don’t care, either.”
Americans are less likely to trust the campaigns overall — compared to sources such as the government and the media — but they have a higher level of trust in Harris and her campaign than in Trump and his campaign to provide accurate information about the outcome of the election. About half have at least a “moderate” amount of trust in Harris and her campaign. By contrast, about 4 in 10 have at least a moderate amount of trust in Trump and his campaign.
Some Republicans’ distrust of election results started far before the 2020 election.
Richard Baum, 60, a conservative independent from Odessa, Texas, said his suspicions began in the 2000 U.S. presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. After Bush won by a slim margin, “hanging chads” became an unlikely symbol of a disputed presidential election as small anomalies common in elections ballooned into major national controversies.
“There was some stuff there that didn’t seem right that made a lot of doubts in my mind about if you can trust the government,” Baum said.
Baum said he would trust election results only if voting took place on only a single day, early voting and mail-in ballots were banned and photo IDs were required at all polling places.
Many Americans doubt the veracity of both presidential candidates’ campaign messages, but skepticism about Trump’s campaign is higher, the USAFacts/AP-NORC survey found.
About 6 in 10 Americans believe that Trump’s campaign messages are “rarely” or “never” based on factual information, compared to 45% who say that about Harris’ campaign messages.
Many Americans also say it’s hard to discern fact from fiction when it comes to the candidates. Slightly less than half of Americans say it’s “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to find factual information about the candidates and their positions, and only about one-third say it’s easy to know if what candidates are saying is true or not.
About 6 in 10 Americans say it’s easy for them to understand the difference between fact and opinion when it comes to information about the upcoming presidential election, but only about 4 in 10 say it’s easy to know whether information is true or not.
Americans are, however, more confident about factual information related to election logistics: About 7 in 10 Americans say it’s easy to find information about how to register to vote, and about 6 in 10 say it’s easy to find information about how to cast their ballot.
Michele Martin, a 56-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat, said she is “very concerned” about misinformation from politicians but finds it much easier to access basic voter information.
“It’s online. It’s mailed to you. It’s not hard to find,” she said.
About 8 in 10 Americans say that when it comes to getting information about the government, the spread of misinformation is a “major problem.” That is essentially unchanged from when the question was asked in 2020.
Lisa Kuda, a 57-year-old Republican from Palm Harbor, said she gets most of her news from social media and friends. She said she feels alienated from most news sources other than Fox News.
“Misinformation is everywhere,” she said. “It’s really difficult to find information about candidates.”
When Americans see news about the election and want to find out whether it’s true, 40% say they turn to an internet search first. Much smaller shares — around 1 in 10 for each — say they first check cable news, national TV news or social media.
Baum, from Texas, said he finds it difficult to easily access information about candidates because he believes social media platforms “are censoring conservative ideologies.” He also doesn’t trust Google and instead turns to conservative networks and podcasts such One America News and conservative podcasters to fact-check claims he’s unsure about.
Almeida’s process looks much different. She starts with a Google search and wades through multiple articles from news outlets such as The New York Times and NBC News, making note of any differences. If multiple articles have the same information, she said, she’s more likely to trust it.
“Misinformation is a huge problem,” she said. “You have to take time to do your research.”
The poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
5 comments
A Day without MAGA
September 11, 2024 at 7:40 am
Eating the pets of the innocent
Dont Say CAT
September 11, 2024 at 8:27 am
When something (allegedly) happens to somebody’s outdoor cat, why is it always everybody’s fault EXCEPT that cat’s owner?
Folks, if it’s your pet, take care of YOUR pet. If somebody outside your own household eats your pet or does anything else to your pet, unless your pet accidentally got out the door and you didn’t know about it, whatever happened was YOUR OWN FAULT
PeterH
September 11, 2024 at 8:06 am
Today’s Republican Party must be totally destroyed before it can be rebuilt from the ground up. The GQP has allowed Trump to turn the Republican Party into a cult of personality. Republicans had every opportunity to rid themselves of this toxic baggage but they failed to impeach him when they were given the chance.
Republicans are incapable of leadership!
Republicans are America’s worst enemy!
Americans must do their part and vote every Republican out of office.
Dont Say FLA
September 11, 2024 at 8:24 am
The MAGA politicans I can at least understand. Turnip J Truck has comprising photos & videos of them, their house, their boyfriend, their girlfriend, their underage friend, even their pet.
But MAGA voters, what the heck is wrong with these people? How can they STILL fall for his nonsense? Many of them claim “policy.” Okay…
Policy is the attraction, but when the actual Republican Dick Cheney says no thank you, is the claimed policy worth it?
How much of his promised policy did he ever deliver when he had 4 years to deliver it? He did some tax cuts for the rich but nothing else. Nothing. Not one thing. Nada.
He did effect some border EO’s which are immediately reversible by the next President (exactly as Biden did, for the purpose of creating pressure on Congress to act, which Congress was doing and nearly done) and thus meaningless in the long term.
And then out of office he counteracted his old campaing promised being fulfilled. He actually torpedoed a meaningFUL solution, via Congress, for the border, and he did that just because he wanted, yet had already failed, to do it himself.
The man is a loser that only loses and tries to force everyone else to lose too. Loooooooooooooooooooooooo Ser.
Dont Say FLA
September 11, 2024 at 8:16 am
Can we stop calling the MAGAs Republicans yet?
Dick Cheney is voting for Kamala Harris, for Gawd’s sake. Dick Cheney! One of the most partisan GOPs in all of history. And he is voting for Kamala Harris.
The Slump N Cower MAGAs are NOT Republicans.
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