Nearly 40 percent of Republicans will blame election fraud if GOP doesn’t win Congress: poll

Thirty-nine percent of Republicans will blame election fraud if the GOP doesn’t win control of Congress in the November midterm elections, while 26 percent of Democrats will say the same if their party doesn’t win, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll.

The poll documents the widening divide between Democrats and Republicans, who appear to be growing less and less likely to accept the outcome of an election if their party doesn’t win.

Partisanship is a bigger source of division than race, the survey found, with 78 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans agreeing they have little or nothing in common with the other party.

Former President Trump, who claims the 2020 election was stolen, still holds a strong grip on the Republican Party, many of whom back his unfounded claims of mass voter fraud.

The 2022 midterm race is flooded with GOP candidates who say the 2020 election was stolen, including vocal critics like Arizona’s gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Democrats, meanwhile, say they are pushing to preserve democracy and uphold the peaceful transfer of power.

About 60 percent of Democrats say it is unlikely they can blame election fraud if their party doesn’t win control of Congress, compared to 36 percent of Republicans who say the same, according to the poll.

Despite the concerns about voter fraud, Republicans are still more positive than not in the upcoming midterm elections, according to the Ipsos poll. About 37 percent are hopeful about the 2022 elections, compared to 14 percent who feel dread.

About 35 percent of Democrats say they are hopeful for the elections while 19 percent say they feel dread when thinking about the 2022 race.

The Axios-Ipsos poll was conducted Sept. 28-29 among 1,004 adults. The margin of error is 3.8 percentage points.