Poll: Nearly 75% of Republicans Believe Trump’s Big Lie, Doubt Legitimacy of Biden’s Election Win

According to a new poll from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, nearly three-quarters of Republicans doubt the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election win.

71 percent of GOP respondents said they don’t believe Biden’s election win was a fair one, underscoring the impact of former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods that the election was stolen from him.

Of that number, 25 percent of GOP respondents said Biden’s win was “probably not legitimate,” and 46 percent said it was “definitely not legitimate.”

Only six percent of GOP respondents acknowledged Biden as the rightful winner of the 2020 general election, while 15 percent said he “probably” is.

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The poll found that the majority of Americans–that’s 58 percent–believe the election was both free and fair but the findings are particularly sobering in light of the continued pushback from Republicans who, spurred by Trump’s lies, have continued to undermine the integrity of an election Trump lost.

“Given the continued questioning of Biden’s victory by prominent Republican elected officials, conservative media personalities and former President Trump, it is no surprise that 7 in 10 Republicans, conservatives and Trump voters view the results of the 2020 election with skepticism, if not outright disbelief,” said Tatishe Nteta, an associate professor of political science at UMass Amherst and the poll’s director.

Earlier this week, the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection announced it plans to release an interim report on its findings sometime during the summer.

“We want to tell it from start to finish over a series of weeks, where we can bring out the best witnesses in a way that makes the most sense,” a senior committee aide told The Washington Post. “Our legacy piece and final product will be the select committee’s report.”

The committee previously announced it was investigating potential criminal activity by former President Trump, who incited the insurrection and pushed his supporters to storm the United States Capitol on the false premise that the 2020 election had been stolen.

The committee said it would consider referring Trump to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the event of compelling evidence.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.