Nearly 3 out of 4 voters say the country will be fundamentally changed for the worse if their preferred candidate loses, according to a poll released on Election Day.
A new Washington Examiner/YouGov poll found that 73% believe the country will be made worse in a way that fundamentally changes the country if the wrong candidate is elected president. This sentiment is shared across party lines, but it is strongest among partisans: 79% of Democrats, 78% of Republicans, and 57% of Independents say the country will be fundamentally changed for the worse.
Only 10% of registered voters think things will get worse while the country remains fundamentally unchanged, and 4% think things will not get worse or better, and the country will not be fundamentally changed. Another 3% said things will get better, but the country will not be fundamentally changed, while 3% said the country will fundamentally change for the better. Seven percent said they didn’t know.
[PREDICT TUESDAY’S WINNER WITH THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER’S INTERACTIVE ELECTORAL MAP.]
Both major party candidates have argued that the result of the election could alter the nation’s character. “What is on the ballot here is the character of this country,” said former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee. “Decency. Honor. Respect. Treating people with dignity. Making sure that everyone has an even chance.”
President Trump has said that if the Democrats win, socialism, lawlessness, and the erasure of national monuments and symbols will follow. Biden will follow “a radical Left agenda” that will “hurt the Bible” and “hurt God,” Trump warned earlier this year.
Biden has said he decided to run for president because of the racist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump has long said he got involved in politics because the country was being cheated by corrupt elites he branded “the swamp” and foreign governments pursuing their own interests.
Some Biden supporters regard Trump as illegitimate, and the president’s most dedicated opponents have described themselves as “the Resistance.” Many of Trump’s backers see him as fighting against an elite that is hostile to them and their families. The presidential contest has, at times, been heated, with multiple interruptions in the candidates’ first debate. Biden told Trump to his face that he was “the worst president America has ever had.”
A plurality of voters nevertheless told the Washington Examiner/YouGov that they would accept an unambiguous election result.
The poll of 1,200 registered voters has a margin of error of 3.8%.
