If we are going to save democracy in this country — and make no mistake, that fight is being waged right this very minute — voters must have faith in the election system. And there’s a small piece of good news on that front.
A poll released Thursday by the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) showed that more GOP voters have trust in U.S. elections than a year ago. Has there been a sudden dawning of sanity, a realization that voter fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States?
Hang on. The poll also shows that many GOP voters continue to cling to unfounded conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud, and — surprising no one — those who backed Donald Trump hold those mistaken beliefs the most.
That’s creating a schism in the Republican Party. Other GOP voters, it seems — the non-Trump ones — are now more in line with independents and Democrats when asked to consider how the 2022 midterm election was run and administered in their community and state. And even when asked about national elections, Republican confidence in elections was nearly double that of the 2020 election — going from 32% in 2021 to 57% in this most recent poll.
Fifty-seven percent isn’t great, but it’s a heckuva lot better than 32%.
So that’s the good news. The bad news is that Trump continues to fuel a divide in the United States that doesn’t seem to be going away. And the clock is ticking on the 2024 presidential election.
The poll noted that Florida Republicans were especially confident in the 2022 election — more than Republicans nationwide, and that there was a substantial bias created by outcomes. In other words, if your candidate won — as Gov. Ron DeSantis did in Florida — you were more likely to have high confidence in the system.
David Becker, the executive director and founder of CEIR, called the overall findings of the poll “significant progress” in voter trust. But he also warned that the progress is fragile.
“It is crucial to the health of American democracy that citizens believe that our nation’s voting systems are sound, and that their vote will be counted,” he said. “We know that when voters are fed a steady diet of lies about our elections, this trust wanes, and as we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, the consequences can be dire.”
Becker has credentials on both sides of the aisle. He served as a senior attorney with the Justice Department’s voting section in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. And CEIR is a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with elections officials around the country regardless of party affiliation.
Interestingly, the poll indicated that GOP voters were especially likely to believe in the prevalence of fraud and miscounted votes in states other than their own. That tracks with the results on Florida.
But what to do now? Ignoring the festering problem of grudge-bearing Trump voters isn’t going to work. But voter education may be the answer — or at least, an answer. A number of those polled indicated their trust in the election system would improve with measures like voter ID verification, even when they lived in states that already had such measures. Elections officials, whose jobs rest on the notion of fair elections, and other pro-democracy groups need to give that some serious thought.
Becker called the next two years “pivotal” when it comes to continuing to build trust with voters. Those on the front lines of democratic elections need to lead the way.
Miami Herald Editorial Board
(83) comments
Laser ,, real thought went into your branding most republicans as German goosesteppers,,,guess you think hank Johnson is a Mensa member due his vast knowledge about pacific islands !!! You demos have more than your fair share of evil self serving jerks in congress too !!!!
Well we seem to be finding common ground ,, we mostly agree our elected dc reps are worthless POS. !!! They seem to only want our money and then when they have our hard earned currency they then treat us like MUSHROOM s…….
Yes I agree. Elected Kansas reps are equally worthless... they have introduced legislation that would ban abortion beginning at fertilization, without exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life or health of the mother... the same thing the "Value Them Both" amendment was trying to accomplish.
Republicans introduced this bill after Kansas voters said that Kansans have a constitutional right to abortion up to 21 weeks and 6 days.They are also pressing to restrict the use of fetal tissue in medical research and make it a crime to destroy fertilized embryos, which could jeopardize the legality of common fertility treatments.
When you elect trashy politicians you get garbage legislation.
Another thing that’s trashy is your total lake of caring for defenseless unborn babies (almost a million a year in this country) with no choice. Someone has to speak up for them. Right to life.
My total lake of caring? We are talking about crappy politicians, not bodies of water.
You're entitled to your opinions, but we live in a democracy, and the people have spoken. Women have a right to choose what they do with their bodies, to a reasonable extent (under 22 weeks.) Forcing women who are victims of rape, incest, or who will possibly die without an abortion is unacceptable. A real moderate would respect that. You're just another extremist who is unwilling to accept the outcome of the vote and happy to have the government going against the will of the people. You're not better than Trump.
You keep right on telling your self that you’re supporting the killing of babies is ok. 🫣
You keep telling yourself forcing children and women to have unwanted/rape/incest babies and letting mothers die that would have lived if they had an abortion is a good thing to support. And why are you against fertility treatments such as In Vitro fertilization?
Sadly, most are "reflective" of MOST of the people who vote them in. You can't let the Voters off. However, I will admit that most voters take sides with those in their own party. But, will say that MOST of the REPUBLICANS IN NOW are more like Communists and Nazis.
Get the money out of the election , our reps only give us lip service during the election season , and the rerun the same song 🎶 over and over ,,,,, send me money so I can go to dc to FIGHT FOR YOU,,,,, then they slink off to never be heard from till the next election….
Democrats have been fighting to end anonymous political donations, but Republicans blocked that from happening last year. Then a conservative group called "Marble Freedom" received a $1.6 BILLION dollar donation from a single donor. This same group is who advised Trump on his Supreme Court picks and who distributed millions of dollars to other right wing groups. Very fishy, and I agree we need to get the money out of elections. Anonymous dark money buying politicians is the real election rigging.
Agree , politicians only concern is “money “ to get re elected !
Glad you all agree with me.
Glad we agree with you about what? You've never said a word about getting money out of elections, and that's all we're talking about. But I am glad that YOU seem to agree with US.
I said it a long time ago you just choose not to remember and use it for your narrative
Show us then. You're lying.
Just after the election in 2020 there is an article on spending for the presidential election and I made the comment then that should be max to what each politician can spend. If you need specifics, then that’s your problem you need to look it up. And then earlier I made comment about, the spending that was done by the Democrats to elect pro Trump politicians, knowing that they could beat them in the election. I was wondering if that would backfire. I also commented that it was a very genius way of winning an election.
As much as you troll around, looking for people, to make fun of and to criticize, it’s not surprising that you don’t remember everything. Lying seems to be your game. Trolling looking for people to make fun of is also your game.
You're a terrible liar, Ricky.
Ricky your account isn't even old enough to have possibly commented just after the 2020 election lol... you aren't in any of the Jan 6 articles comment sections either... your first comments appear several months later. Remember when you said I "seem like a rational person?" That was one of your very first comments. You also told me "Something tells me you were a professor or still are a professor at the University." LOL! Reading your comment history is hilarious.
But you saying anything about "getting money out of elections" "Just after the election in 2020" is a lie. It's also not my problem, lol. I'm saying this comment does not exist. If you think it does, show us. (You won't because you can't) and that is YOUR problem. Its kind of a stupid thing to lie about, too.
Truth hurts for someone like you
It's no wonder the political scene is such a mess in this country. One article like this, and the locals take to attacking each other. Sigh...
IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF STORIES LIKE THIS OR THE MEDIA AT ALL! IT IS 100 PER CENT THE FAULT OF THE LYING REPUBLICANS...WITH EMPHASIS ON THOSE ELECTION FRAUD LIES!
That’s why we need to be a third-party option, and hopefully it takes off, and scares both parties to start working together, just don’t holding your breath.
Duverger's Law tells us that as long as we have single representatives for each district and whoever wins the plurality of the votes becomes that representative, we will have a two-party system. If we want minor parties to have political power, we need to amend our election processes.
I thought the Tea Party was the third-party option. Of course it was dissolved in 2016, but I remember how gung ho everyone was around here, showing up in their hats with tea bags hanging off the brims and jumping up and down in the streets with happiness. It didn't seem to scare the other two into doing anything at all but bide their time.
Ricky, how about we abolish political parties altogether? Up with People, Down with Parties!
Can’t be any worse than what we have now.
I believe it was former president George Washington who cautioned the U.S. against the rise of parties as he was leaving office. We see how well we took HIS advice.
POLITICAL PARTIES CANNOT BE ABOLISHED. WHETHER THERE IS/ARE PARTIES OR NOT, YOU WILL ALSO HAVE LIKE-THINKING GROUPS. GET REAL.
WE ALREADY HAVE 4 PARTIES, 2 IN EACH PARTY. ALSO, A 3RD PARTY WOULDN'T BE ANY DIFFERENT. IT WOULD ALSO BE FULL OF LIARS!
Cyber , we could have fun for a long time making fun of DC congressional reps. Try beating rep Hank Johnson who said Guam was going to tip over ! Both parties are full of idiots ,, kind of scary when you think of it .
REPUBLICANS FAR OUT DISTANCE IN IDIOTS.
Include yourself in that Gary
I know Mr. Lukert, he is very smart, great common sense...which is ridiculed by REPUBLICANS!!!!!
Ricky you voted yes to an amendment that would have ended with mothers needlessly dying to prevent your feelings from being hurt. You are much more hateful than Gary could ever be.
HEY, I KNOW GARY....HE IS A GOOD OF A PERSON AS YOU CAN FIND.
Trust isn't the real Issue. The real issue is the REPUBLICAN LIES! Led by "Liar in Chief" DONALD TRUMP! Republicans have taken up with the Communists....Tell Big Lies, keep telling them....and, sooner or later, people will accept them as TRUTH. Fact is NO POLITICAL Party has ever LIED Like Republicans are doing today!!! Today's Republican party is the most evil Party Ever in the World. Doing everything they can, 24 hours a day, to Destroy Democracy!!!!!
Wow Gary, I was just wondering what ever happened to you the other day... glad you're still kicking and back to posting!
Now there is the voice of the extreme liberal party.
LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE....THE LIES ARE EXTREME! AND, REPUBLICANS ARE WORLD CHAMP;ION LIARS! TODAY'S REPUBLICANS (MOST OF THEM) HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO COMMUNISM...COMMUNISTS BELIEVED LYING...REPEATING THE LIES, AND HAVING BIG LIES...WHEN PEOPLE WOULD HEAR THEM OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN...THEY WOULD ACCEPT AND BELIEVE THEM. TODAY'S REPUBLICAN PARTY (MOST IN THE PARTY) ARE DOING EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY. LIKE, HITLER AND STALIN....REPUBLICANS CAN'T LIVE IN DEMOCRACY. REPUBLICANS (MOST) WANT DEMOCRACY ENDED. MOST REPUBLICANS HAVE NO DECENCY. AND TRUMP IS THE BIGGEST LIAR THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!
The lying created George Santos! Not only is telling the lie immoral, accepting or believing the lie is also immoral. Knowing it's a lie and accepting it or doing nothing about it is also a crime.
Gary, just because you put everything in caps doesn’t make you right. Lol
You’re right Gary both parties lie to the extreme
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE PARTY OF DECENCY! MOST REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS HAVE LITTLE TO NO DECENCY! MOST REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS CARE NOTHING ABOUT LIFE. WITH MOST REPUBLICANS...ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS POWER, MONEY....AND DECENCY BE DAMNED!
You should run for office Gary. Put your money where your mouth is.
At least the Liberals "ain't communists" like the former Republicans have turned into.
The Republican Party of today would make Adolph happy! Most of today's Republican Politicians would turn the gas ON at Auschwitz!
Spot on!!
The banter has been fun , As for your paradise for sale,, well let’s just say you might want to keep it .
Hunh?
HUNH? WHAT?
Well cyber, I’m sure you are correct , we should trust our gov w/ o any question ,, because they would never LIE,,, never have before ,,
I choose to live my life with truth, logic and fact. In tRump you trust, sail. Enough said. I have some prime land in Costa Rica for sale.
Neither side has the moral high ground. All the more reason for having a third party. Both sides are corrupt with no changing of that insight. Trump has just made things 100 times worse for the Republican party and I hope soon he will be put in the place that he belongs. And sail it is not president of the United States like you might think.
You're so funny, Ricky. Democrats obviously have the moral high ground when it comes to elections. There's been zero proof of any widespread election fraud, yet 99% of people claiming our elections are rigged are Republicans...
Your opinion that "neither side has the moral high ground" is ridiculous. Democrats didn't try to overthrow the government after losing "the most secure election in US history", don't go all over the news saying our elections are rigged, don't harass people near polling places, and don't try to pass laws making it harder to vote. Democrats absolutely have the moral high ground here.
You also forgot to say that you're not actually a Republican and that you're really some sort of moderate independent who votes for 3rd party candidates, but you're not fooling anybody. The views you choose to share with us are pretty extreme, and your "moderate" views are always generic things like "we can do better". Any left leaning or progressive views you are against. You're the kind of Republican that Republicans hate, lol.
RIGHT ON! AND REPUBLICANS MURDERED 5 CAPITOL POLICE ON JAN 6TH, 2021. PLUS, MANY OTHERS INJURED.
I said several times I’m a registered independent. How many times do I need to tell you that before you remember. You choose to just make up stories about me just because apparently you’re delusional and don’t like to be called a baby killer.
Thanks for proving my point. Your the one not fooling anyone.
Also you have no morals for supporting killing almost a million innocent babies every year.
NO BABIES ARE MURDERED.
Re-read what I said I said almost a man babies are killed every year. I never said murdered. What are you call the taking of an innocent babies life. Those babies never have a chance or a say, it’s very sad you have no care about those babies lives. Of course, people like you have no conscience.
Democrats have never killed BABIES!
If your for abortion then your for killing innocent babies
There are plenty of republicans that are just as bad. There are also some democrats who are for pro life.
HEY, GET OVER THAT....A 3RD PARTY WILL BE NO DIFFERENT. FOR ONE THING, ALL POLITICIANS LIE ALL THE TIME. (HOWEVER, REPUBLICANS ARE BEST AT IT!_
Glad to see you. Agree that all politicians are liars.
TRUMP LIED ALL THROUGH HIS CAMPAIGN AND WHEN IN OFFICE. STILL LYING. REPUBLICANS LOVE HIM...BECAUSE REPUBLICANS LOVE LIES. THAT'S ALL REPUBLICANS HAVE.
It is good to hear that some people are coming to their senses. It's a shame they left themselves open to believing the lies, disinformation and half-truths to begin with. The facts are clear! There is little to no voter fraud throughout the country. Time after time, courts throughout the US threw out senseless claims of election fraud. Some people, like Sail, are happy living with alternate facts and lies. It satisfies their need to feel victimized. Anyone reasonable person could see that all this is a Russian objective orchestrated by an ex-KGB officer, now dictator, Vladimir Putin. The Russians tracked tRump of years before he was elected President. They knew they had a dolt who they could use to divide the US and weaken Democracy. And it worked! The Russians didn't have to fire a shot to get the results they wanted. Talk to any intelligence officer and they will tell you that tRump was considered corrupted. The Mueller investigation proved this meddling by the Russians and the only thing that kept tRump for being impeached by both Houses was a Republican Senate willing to allow our country to continue to be corrupted. They failed mightily to honor their oath and protect the constitution. They even protected him a second time!
There will be people who continue to believe the Big Lie and they are beyond hope. They DESIRE to live in a world that denies truth, liberty and justice. These people are the enemies of the state. They will go down in history as willing accomplices to the demise of America.
AMEN! YOU ARE TOTALLY CORRECT! EVEN TRUMP'S SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS....3 OF THEM.....ALL VOTED AGAINST HIM!
I believe ole Joe Stalin was correct in saying , it matters not who you vote for ,it only matters WHO COUNTS THE VOTES !
This is why electronic ballot scanners and tabulators are so great. No biased election workers to worry about "finding votes," "losing votes," or "miscounting votes" and also comes with the ability for humans to spot check any batch of votes to ensure accuracy. Even Trumps officials said the 2020 election was “The most secure in American history.” I'm not against 100% paper ballot elections, but "who counts the votes" should stay electronic to avoid human election interference.
Except, a computer is programmed, there are thousands of precincts,,, they should go with payper with oversight by both major parties present , then the count imo would pass the smell test .
More errant nonsense, sail. If the major parties are present...what's to keep them from destroying ballots supporting third parties? More importantly, the electronics count (wait for it)...paper ballots. So there is a paper trail to double-check your phantom computer misprogrammers.
YOU'RE CRAZY. REPUBLICANS WON'T ACCEPT ANY ELECTION THEY DON'T WIN!
Errant nonsense, sail. This quote traces back to an old cartoon in Harper's Weekly. https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.12564/ The source is Tom Nast, not Uncle Joe.
The Republicans that believe in this stupid voter conspiracy need to get their head out of there you know what’s. They are the ones that are creating issue with democracy.
Dear Ricky,
I am betting that your main news source is CNN. We MAGA republicans will never trust elections again. I am not sure I am voting Trump again, but what he accomplished is so much more for the USA, and I wonder when biden will come to the podium and take questions like Mr. Trump did. NEVER... Biden is a washed up POS. Hunter has did him no good.
Oh boo-hoo-hoo... You sure weren't crying when Trump went over 300 days with zero press briefings. And you sure aren't talking about Trumps daughter and son in law getting a 2 BILLION dollar check from the Saudis after leaving the White House... "Corrupt" Hunter Biden earning 11 million dollars over a period of 6 years for legal work is peanuts compared to the blatant money grabs during and after Trumps term in office.
Actually, my main news source is news nation. I quit watching anything else for my news. I’m sure your news source is Fox News, which is a joke just like CNN.
NEWS NATION IS ANTI-AMERICAN.
This is true, lukertg.
Trump accomplished nothing but pulling the wool over "MAGA Republican" eyes. If you don't trust the election system then you shouldn't participate in it.
Biden isn't my favorite but at least he's not a con artist, insurrectionist, or traitor like Trump.
I agree with you, I just think some how we need to do better.
ALSO, TRUMP'S PRESS SECRETARY WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED LIAR....AND EVEN SUSPENDED PRESS BRIEFINGS!
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