53 percent of Republicans say Trump is true president: poll

Most Republicans believe that Donald Trump is still the rightful president and that the results of the 2020 election were tarnished by illegal voting, according to a new Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. 

The survey found that just over half of Republicans — 53 percent — think that Trump remains the “true president,” despite losing to President Biden last year by roughly 7 million votes nationally. Even more — 61 percent — believe either strongly or somewhat that the 2020 election was “stolen” from the former president.

Similarly, 56 percent of Republican respondents said that the presidential election had been marred by illegal voting or “election rigging,” a baseless claim that Trump has made repeatedly in the more than six months since Election Day.

The poll, which was conducted from May 17 to 19, underscores the influence that Trump still has over much of the GOP’s electorate. Despite losing reelection in November, he has continued to insist that the election had been rigged against him — a claim that has prompted Republican legislators across the country to rewrite election laws and review the results of the presidential race.

Trump touted the Reuters-Ipsos poll on Tuesday, pointing to it as a sign of his continued support among his conservative base and suggesting that he, too, believes that he is still the rightful president. 

“A new Ipsos/Reuters poll ‘Beliefs Among Republicans’ shows 53% believe Donald Trump is the true President (I always knew America was smart!),” Trump said in a statement through his political action committee. “2020 Election was tainted 56%. The Election was stolen (and Rigged!) 61%.”

The Reuters-Ipsos poll is based on responses from 2,007 U.S. adults, including 754 Republicans, 909 Democrats and 196 independents. It has a credibility interval of 3.7 percentage points for Democrats, 4.1 percentage points for Republicans and 8 percentage points for independents.