Most Americans reject validity of Republican funded 2020 election audits
Most of the public rejects Republican efforts to audit states' 2020 election results, saying they believe the reviews are an attempt to undermine valid election outcomes, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday.
A 57% majority of Americans say that, based on what they've heard about the audits conducted or proposed by legislatures in some states, they view them as "partisan efforts to undermine valid election results." Just a third say they see them more as "legitimate efforts to identify potential voting irregularities.
Further, 40% of the public says that such audits will weaken American democracy, while 20% say it will strengthen it. Another 35% expecting them to have no impact.
The problem-ridden audit of Arizona's 2020 election results, which has exasperated even some Republicans in the state, hasn't uncovered evidence suggesting widespread voter fraud. But it has inspired pro-Trump Republicans to push for similar efforts in other states.
Although the survey didn't explicitly identify the audits as Republican-led efforts, it still found sharp divides along political lines. A near-universal 90% of Democrats view the audits as bad faith, partisan ploys. Republican support for the audits is broad, but less overwhelming: 59% call them legitimate, with 31% seeing them as attempts to overturn valid results.
Both the overall numbers and the partisan divides reflect wider opinions about the 2020 election. Most Americans, 61%, believe President Joe Biden won the 2020 election fair and square, a number that's budged little since last November. But 57% of Republicans say they believe the baseless theory that Biden's victory was due to voter fraud.
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