Election Poll: Most See a Hillary Clinton Victory and a Fair Count Ahead
(CNN)Almost 7 in 10 voters nationwide say they think Hillary Clinton will win the presidency next month, but most say that if that happens, Donald Trump will not accept the results and concede, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.
Americans overall are more confident that the nation’s votes for president will be cast and counted accurately this year than they were in 2008. Whatever the outcome, however, nearly 8 in 10 say that once all the states have certified their vote counts, the losing candidate has an obligation to accept the results and concede to the winner.Expectations that the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee will win are widespread and growing. The 68% who say they expect a Clinton win now is up from 59% around Labor Day and 55% back in June just after the primaries ended. Republicans and Trump supporters are the sole groups, among which less than half think Clinton will ultimately win.
More: Election poll: Most see a Hillary Clinton victory and a fair count ahead
Nearly 8 in 10 say that once states have certified their vote counts (ie, after any recounts or challenges) the loser has an obligation to accept and concede. That does mean that 1 in 5 voters are not willing to accept the results, and we are going to have President Clinton with a substantial minority of people never accepting her presidency as legitimate.
It also says that the divide is strong among party lines about the vote being counted fairly, but also notes that in ‘04 it was Democrats that had less confidence in the system.
One thing I found interesting….
In the new poll, 77% say that whoever loses after each state has officially certified its vote for president has an obligation to accept the results and concede. But just 35% say they think that if Trump loses he will accept the results and concede once votes have been certified, 61% say he will not. That doubt lies primarily among those who do not support Trump. Among his own backers, 56% say they think he will accept the outcome and concede if he loses, while 75% of those who support Clinton think he will not.
Fewer (22%) doubt that Clinton will accept the results if she loses, but again, her own supporters are more apt to say she will than are those who back her opponent; 95% of Clinton backers say she will vs. 59% of Trump supporters.
95% of Clinton supporters think she will accept the loss if she loses the election, whereas only 56% of Trump supporters think he will conceded if he loses.
One thing that we’ve always done well as a country has been that orderly transition of power. Yes, every 4 years some elements like to raise bogus fears of ‘martial law / elections cancelled’ but never has it been viewed as anything other than idiocy at work, and an effective way to dis-qualify anything you say after that.
Our best hope I think is for a huge blowout in the 100 Electoral Vote range, one that takes any issue of “Rigged / Hacked / Illegitimate” off the table.
RBS