New poll shows partisan divide in trust of federal election system

Americans are sharply divided along partisan lines over their trust in the federal election system, according to a new Politico-Morning Consult poll coming days ahead of midterm elections.

The poll, published Wednesday, found that 60 percent of respondents trust the federal election system some or a lot, while 33 percent distrust it either some or a lot.

Among Democrats, 80 percent of registered voters trust the federal election system, while 14 percent distrust it. Among Republicans, 44 percent of respondents said they trust the election system, while 53 percent do not.

Just over half of independents said they trust the federal election system, while 35 percent distrust it.

Trust in state elections systems was higher across the board, though still differed significantly by party. Overall, 66 percent of respondents said they at least somewhat trust in their state’s election system, while 28 percent of those distrusted it, according to the poll.

Only 18 percent of those surveyed believe it will be harder to vote this year compared to 2018’s midterm elections, and 17 percent said this year would be harder than the 2020 presidential election.

That is despite many GOP-led states passing laws since 2020 that Democrats and election activists say will make it harder for many people to vote, particularly voters of color.

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Election integrity has also been a major theme of some GOP campaigns, such as Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who have both touted former President Trump’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

The poll comes a week before the midterm elections in which Republicans are widely expected to retake control of the House, though the Senate remains a toss-up.

The Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31 with a total of 2,005 respondents. The poll’s margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.