"70% of US Voters Would Reject Trump’s Defeat in Presidential Election"

CNN Broadcast Survey
73% of Voters Expect Harris to Concede

With the U.S. presidential election just over a week away on the 5th of next month, 70% of Americans expect that former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, will refuse to accept the election results if he loses.

According to a survey conducted by CNN and polling firm SSRS from October 20 to 23 among 1,074 registered voters nationwide, only 30% of respondents expected former President Trump to concede if he lost (margin of error ±3.2 percentage points).

In contrast, 73% of respondents expected Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, to accept the results if she lost, more than double the rate for Trump.

Looking at supporters of each candidate, 97% of those who support Vice President Harris said their candidate would concede if defeated. Meanwhile, only 57% of Trump supporters believed he would accept the results if he lost.

When asked whether the losing candidate has an obligation to concede once all states officially certify the election results, 88% of respondents answered "yes."

With the U.S. presidential election just 8 days away, the two candidates are locked in a tight race, raising the possibility of refusal to accept the election outcome. Previously, former President Trump claimed "election fraud" involving mail-in ballots in the last election and insisted that he must win by a large margin this time. Vice President Harris recently expressed concern in a media interview that Trump might declare victory before the vote count is complete.

Meanwhile, another poll showed a close race between Vice President Harris and former President Trump in Wisconsin, a battleground state in the Rust Belt (a declining industrial region) that could decide the election. According to a survey conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University from October 20 to 23 among 500 likely voters in Wisconsin, Harris recorded 48% support, narrowly leading Trump’s 47% by 1 percentage point (margin of error ±4.4 percentage points). In Door County, known as a "bellwether county" for its high accuracy in predicting election outcomes in Wisconsin, Vice President Harris led former President Trump by 3 percentage points with 50% support to 47%. President Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump in Wisconsin by 0.63 percentage points in the 2020 election and won Door County by 1.45 percentage points.