Poll: Nearly 40 Percent of GOP Voters Likely to Blame Fraud If Party Loses Midterms (Newsmax)
By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 10 October 2022 11:46 AM EDT
Nearly 40% of Republicans are likely to blame voter fraud if the GOP doesn't win control of Congress in the midterms, according to a new Axios-Ipsos survey.
When asked "If your party does not win control of Congress, how likely are you to blame election fraud?" Republicans and Democrats offered very different responses in the Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index Poll.
A total of 39% of Republican respondents say they likely will blame voter fraud, 36% say they are unlikely, and 26% do not know.
Among Democrats, 25% said it's likely they'll blame voter fraud, 60% say it's unlikely, and 15% do not know.
Voters will go to the polls on Nov. 8 to decide which major party will control the House and Senate.
Republicans have been favored to regain control of the House, with Politico on Sunday reporting that a tight race exists for winning a Senate majority.
Interestingly, the survey found that voters who have shared at least one meal with someone from the opposite party in the last month are less likely to claim election fraud caused their losses.
"When you have connections across the aisle with other people, you're less likely to give in to or even entertain some of the 'crazy,' " Ipsos Senior Vice President Chris Jackson said, Axios reported.
"There are so few of those connections remaining, and that lack of connection contributes the space for people to believe the 'big lie,' and that elections are going to be stolen and all those kinds of things. Because they're believing it about someone they've never met."
The Axios-Ipsos poll found that 43% of respondents said former President Donald Trump is unfairly targeted by the left, while 45% disagreed.
Survey results also showed that most (65%) independents feel they have little to nothing in common with either major party.
A total of 30% of Americans say they feel hope when thinking about midterms, while 17% feel dread, the next most frequently cited emotion.
The Axios-Ipsos poll was conducted Sept. 28-29 among 1,004 adults from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.