A fresh survey reveals that a substantial majority of Americans are skeptical that President Trump will concede if Republicans suffer losses in the upcoming midterm elections and lose control of Congress.
The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll indicates that 70 percent of respondents lack confidence that Trump will accept the outcome, a sentiment shared by 36 percent of Republicans, 77 percent of independents, and 94 percent of Democrats.
Only 28 percent of those surveyed expressed confidence that Trump would accept the results. That figure includes 63 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of independents, and just 6 percent of Democrats.
The poll also gauged views on Democratic leaders, with 61 percent of respondents saying they think Democratic leaders would accept the results if their party lost. Among Democrats, 88 percent are confident their leaders would accept a loss, while 58 percent of independents agree. Only 36 percent of Republicans believe Democratic leaders would accept an electoral defeat.
On election integrity, a majority of both parties expressed confidence that the midterms will be conducted fairly: 70 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans. Overall, 60 percent of respondents said they are at least somewhat confident in the fairness of the elections, while 51 percent of independents are confident versus 47 percent who are not.
Republicans' current confidence in election fairness is notably higher than their post-2020 outlook. According to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, after the 2020 election, 77 percent of Republicans acknowledged there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and nearly all considered Trump's victory legitimate. In contrast, ahead of the 2024 election, only 49 percent of Republicans expressed confidence that votes would be counted accurately.
Trump has a long history of questioning U.S. election integrity. He disputed his 2016 Iowa caucus loss to Senator Ted Cruz, accusing Cruz of cheating and demanding a recount. He later made unfounded claims of voter fraud after his 2020 defeat to President Biden, fueling ongoing controversies.
The Justice Department has been pursuing election-related cases. On Monday, it charged 28 California voters who are allegedly not U.S. citizens, accusing them of fraudulently registering to vote and casting illegal ballots. The DOJ also sued California on Thursday, providing state and local officials with a USB drive containing citizenship data and giving them 48 hours to compare 20,000 names flagged by the Department of Homeland Security as non-citizens against their voter rolls. DOJ officials warned of criminal charges if California failed to act.
Trump responded on Truth Social, sharing a letter from the DOJ to the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office and writing, "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!"
The survey, conducted Oct. 9-13, included 2,545 respondents and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
