President Joe Biden faces significant – and unusual – threats to his presidency, which previous presidents have not had to deal with. The most striking is the degree to which many Americans do not recognize his fair electoral victory.
In the latest Economist/YouGov poll, a sizable percentage of the public – and nearly three in four Republicans (77%) – say they do not accept his election and believe he was not legitimately elected president. The size of GOP doubt about President Biden’s election has not changed appreciably since his inauguration. Overall, more than a third of the public (38%) today are election doubters.
For some who reject the election outcome, there is even an expectation that the results will be altered. One in six overall (15%) and one in four Republicans (23%) now believe it is likely that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated in the White House by the end of the year. One in five Trump supporters (19%) believe the same.
Supporters have falsely claimed that Trump would be reinstated on multiple dates and have changed the expected date each time it does not happen.
Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow had said the reinstatement would take place this Friday, but he has now extended the timeline. Lindell is popular with those with those who think there will soon be a change at the White House. By more than two to one, those who expect Trump will be reinstated have a favorable opinion of him. Among all Americans, unfavorable views exceed favorable ones narrowly (30% unfavorable to 26% favorable).
The false theory is that the reinstatement of the former President would be facilitated by the Supreme Court, though there are no constitutional grounds for this.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 US Adult Citizens interviewed online between August 7 - 10, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 2.8% for the overall sample.
Image: Getty
