By Maria Ortiz
Sep 17, 2024, 11:23 PM EDT
Nearly half of Republicans (46%) and more than a quarter of Democrats (27%) said that would not consider the results of the 2024 elections legitimate if the presidential candidate from the other party were to win, according to a poll by the World Justice Project (WJP) released on Tuesday.
The survey, conducted through online interviews with 1,046 American households between June 10 and 18, found that 14% of Republicans say they “would take steps to overturn” the election results if Donald Trump were not elected.
Among Democrats surveyed, 11% would go further and would take medication to nullify the negative result of their candidate.
The poll also found that only one-third of Republicans (34%) and two-thirds of Democrats (67%) believe that election officials are trustworthy.
In general, Democrats have much more faith in many aspects of the electoral process, particularly when it comes to fraud prevention and accurate vote counting, noted the report by WJP, a nonpartisan organization focused on the rule of law globally.
However, fewer than half of Democrats (47%) would trust the Supreme Court to fairly determine the winner of a disputed election, compared with two-thirds of Republicans (67%).
Although a large majority of Americans still hold strong values of upholding the rule of law, these majorities are slowly declining, the report warns.
For example, about 13% of Americans (regardless of political affiliation) now say that People do not need to obey the laws of a government they did not vote for.
“Today, trust in many American institutions, government accountability, and the rule of law more broadly is considerably lower than it was before the 2020 election,” said Elizabeth Andersen, director of WJP in a statement.
Despite his concerns, 88% of Americans surveyed said they planned to vote this fall“Good news, despite the polarization,” Andersen said.
“Both Democrats and Republicans still agree on the fundamental principles of the rule of law and want to participate in democracy,” Andersen added.
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