Democracy Dies in Darkness

Six in 10 Republicans still think 2020 was illegitimate

This complicates the argument that Trump can’t win in 2024

Analysis by
National columnist
May 24, 2023 at 4:34 p.m. EDT
A sign at a gas station proclaims “God Knows Trump Won” in Worthington, Pa., on Dec. 30, 2021. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
4 min

In that two-week period in January 2021 between the riot at the Capitol and Joe Biden’s inauguration as president, CNN’s pollster SSRS was in the field asking Americans how they viewed the prior year’s election.

At the time, an overwhelming percentage of Republicans said the election was illegitimate — despite months of investigation revealing no evidence of voter fraud. More than half of Republicans (and Republican-leaning independents) said there was solid evidence that the election was illegitimate, which there wasn’t.