A new Washington Post article reveals that 52% of Republicans polled say that they would be A-OK with delaying the 2020 Presidential election if President Trump said that voter fraud concerns made it a necessity. The same poll says 47% believe Trump’s assertions that he would have won the 2016 popular vote were it not for millions of illegal voters — a dubious claim absent evidence save for Trump and his team’s loaded words. But they’re searching.
Should Americans worry that these poll numbers (and controversial efforts to prove voter fraud) are going to lead to the curb stomping of democracy in three years? American politics has become a sentient roller coaster, ripping up the previously laid track and contorting the steel to create twists and turns as it sees fit, so it’s hard to predict anything with certainty anymore, but there are reasons to be skeptical of this news.
The poll was created using responses gathered in the middle of June before a lot of the chaos that has led to Trump’s declining position in popularity polls and a recent poll that showed only a quarter of respondents believe what comes out of The White House. It’s also, as the Post points out, a hypothetical question in 2017, not a frighteningly real situation in 2020. And, even still, the tally doesn’t represent a majority of American voters, only one-half of one party.
What this really is is a reminder that, for all the reports about Trump’s shrinking base, there are still people who are buying into the Trump view of “real news” without the skepticism that often keeps politicians on the hunt for the kind of support that Trump holds with little real action.
What’s interesting is, that loyalty is, at least according to the demographics revealed in the breakdown of this poll, “more prevalent among Republicans who were younger, were less educated, had less factual knowledge of politics and strongly identified with the party.” So, they’re not going to be easily swayed, they aren’t going anywhere, they like his politics, and they love his shoot from the hip style. Everything else is sort of negotiable. Everything? Maybe we’ll find out someday, but the hypothetical suspension of an election and possible Russian collusion don’t seem to have done the trick.
(Via Washington Post)