It’s no secret that American politics are divided—but a recent poll shows that division goes so far that at least one side would be willing to suspend democracy to further their agenda.
More than half of Republicans polled by the Washington Post said they would support postponing the 2020 presidential election if President Donald Trump and Congress were in favor of the idea.
Yes—it’s gotten that bad.
The question was asked in the context of the false idea that there was widespread voter fraud that caused Trump to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by approximately 3 million votes.
In the poll, 47 percent of Republicans incorrectly believed that Trump won the popular vote. Even more (68 percent) believe that millions of illegal immigrants voted and nearly two-thirds of Republicans polled thought voter fraud happens “somewhat or very often.”
People who believed the incorrect information that Trump won the popular vote and voter fraud was rampant were more likely to support suspending the 2020 election. The poll found that Republicans who were younger, less educated, and strongly identified with the Republican Party were also more likely to support the idea, according to the poll.
“At a minimum, they show that a substantial number of Republicans are amenable to violations of democratic norms that are more flagrant than what is typically proposed (or studied),” the Post wrote about the poll.
The poll interviewed a sample of 1,325 Americans from June 5 to June 20.
You can read all of the Washington Post poll’s findings here.
