Election integrity has skyrocketed to one of the top concerns in the congressional midterm elections, with huge majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans citing it as a driving issue.
While Democrats and Republicans have different views of what “election integrity” means, together, 83% of likely voters believe it will be a factor in the elections for House and Senate — and the 2024 presidential election.
For Republicans, Rasmussen Reports found that 89% said the issue is “important,” with 62% calling it “very important.” Among Democrats, 78% called it “important,” including 52% who said “very important.” And 84% of independent voters feel it is important, with 60% in the “very important” column.
Republicans have been hot on the issue since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, despite winning more votes than in 2016 and scooping up historic numbers of minority votes.
In the same poll, 75% of Republicans believed “cheating” changed the outcome.
But Democrats also have a gripe with Republican states trying to tighten election standards, efforts they say go too far, though it was President Joe Biden who received a historic number of votes in 2020 despite running a Rose Garden-style campaign.
A majority of Democrats do not believe cheating affected the 2020 election.
Rasmussen also found that on one key election reform issue, voter identification, support remains high. Overall, 74% of likely voters said that voter ID should be required, including 90% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats.
And despite complaints from some Democrats, including the president, that reforms like ID requirements are racist, even majorities of minorities don’t think so. The Rasmussen analysis added, “While some have claimed voter ID laws discriminate against racial minorities, majorities of every racial group — 76% of whites, 60% of black voters, and 78% of other minorities — agree that requiring photo ID to vote is a reasonable measure to protect the integrity of elections.”
