Robert Reid says he will always believe that the 2020 United States election was stolen from President Donald Trump. A retired police officer-construction worker believes that despite the number of courts rejecting that claim, fraud has damaged the vote. However, a day after Electoral College officially announced the victory of Joe Biden, a Trump supporter from the Lancaster suburbs of Pennsylvania was ready to move forward.
Commenting on Trump’s quest to manipulate the election results, Reid said: “I think it’s too much. “I believe in electoral college.”
Trump has been trying for weeks to convince his loyal base that his victory has been stolen and that competition is fierce. With the help of traditional media, polls show he has achieved considerable success. But now that the Electoral College has formalized Biden’s victory, Republican officials, including Senate leader Mitch McConnell, have finally agreed to elect Biden as president, and many Trump voters across the country seem to be doing the same.
Interviews with voters, along with the latest polls from Republicans, indicate that they have unfounded doubts about the integrity of the vote. But there is very little consensus on what to do about it and whether to carry that outrage forward.
For some, like Reid, the Electoral College vote is the obvious end of a process. Others vowed to continue protesting over the weekend with violent demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Some feel that GOP leaders are pushing for more research to address the doubts planted by Trump.
Like retirees and Trump voters living on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, Biden said he acknowledged victory – but “with reservations”.
Adams said he had heard a lot of talk about vote-rigging on the Fox News Channel and Conservative Talk Radio to believe the election result, and that he never thought he would know the true margin of victory. (Biden won the Electoral College by 306 to 232 votes.)
But Adams does not think the election is tough enough to change the outcome, even though he believes it is “tough enough to question further.” He wants to see more research.
Republicans across the country – from local officials to governors to Attorney General William Barr – have repeatedly said there is no evidence that mass voter fraud has affected the outcome. Trump and his allies have cracked down on lawsuits, but almost all have been struck down by judges. The Supreme Court, which has three judges nominated by Trump, has rejected requests to hear a pair of cases aimed at invalidating election results in key battlefield states.
Still, it has been difficult for many Trump voters to come up with this pile of evidence. As Trump turned out heavily for his rallies, they expressed disbelief that Trump was likely to lose. Some said their suspicions were heightened by the reluctance of the mainstream media to broadcast Trump’s baseless claims. They repeatedly pointed to a slower-than-usual vote count as evidence that something was amiss.
Reed, who lives in the East Lamper Township, said: “Something is not right here.
The explanation is well known – in most states, the flow of mail-in ballots, which Democrats cast the most, is calculated later than individual-cast ballots. Reid, however, said he felt the courts should spend more time on the investigation.
“I always believe it was stolen from him. I can never have peace of mind that it was not,” he said.
Others did not want to go along.
“I do not believe in that outcome. I think the election was a fraud. My opinion is that the election was stolen. I don’t know how anyone can think. All you have to do is look at the results, ”said Catherine Negret, 55, a teacher living in Peoria, Arizona.
Negrate is also among those hoping that Trump will win if the Supreme Court intervenes (with no indications that it will happen) or if Congress chooses to accept Trump’s “alternative slate” of voters from many states. Election experts say the plan has no legal basis and has been discouraged by Republican Senate leaders.
However, Negret said, “Let’s hope Congress does the right thing” and expressed frustration with the declining options.
“I do not know what we can do about it. If there are no courts to stand up for us,” she said. “If we do not have the Attorney General, it will stand up. Do we need to fight brother against brother? That’s crazy. “
Biden vowed to bring Americans together and work across the aisle. His success in both areas depends on how many Republicans have their election grievances. A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month found that 38 per cent of registered voters, including 77 per cent Republicans, believed widespread fraud in the presidential election.
In a recent Fox News poll, 36 percent of voters, including 77 percent of Trump voters, believe the election was stolen from Trump. However, the same poll found that 8 out of 10 voters, and half of the Trump electorate, said they would give Biden at least a chance to run for president.
Matt Verreline, 52, a member of the pro-Trump group “Long Island Loud Majority”, is not in a state of reconciliation.
Vereline, who lives in Bohemia, New York, believes “there is a lot more voter fraud than we know,” but he does not know if it changed the outcome. But that doesn’t stop him from rallying around what he thinks is unfair. After all, he said, Democrats did the same for Trump.
“They have not cried for four years about the unproven Russian merger? So now I’m going to cry for four years about voter fraud,” he said. “They did not accept it. Why should I accept Biden? I know there is nothing I can do about it. Whatever it is, but if my friends want to come together and complain peacefully about it and share our views, I’m going. ”
Others believe Biden Fair and Square won. Republican Steve Walkman, who works on construction in Mesa, Arizona, said Trump made peace with the loss weeks ago.
“I voted for Trump, but people should get over it,” Walkman said, leaning over his pickup truck. “Sure, he (Biden) won the majority vote – landslide. For me, it’s already over.”
Catherine Templeton, a South Carolina Republican who served in the administration of former Gov. Nicki Haley, said she believes voters are ready to accept Biden as president, despite the level of support for Trump in red states like hers.
“Obviously, South Carolina will support President Trump, but I think you’ll see when the Republicans get in their way, they will move forward,” said Templeton, who lives in Charleston. “Now it’s time to leave.”
It remains to be seen how long-term concerns will arise over the integrity of the vote in future elections. Both parties focus on Georgia, where a pair of runoff elections will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Denise Adams, 50, said she had doubts about “questionable activity” in the general election. But she voted early Monday in Atlanta, a northwestern suburb of Kensington.
“I do not want to lose our freedom,” she said, repeating the misleading GOP claims that Democrats would enter “socialism.” “We are losing our rights and freedoms in our country.”
“I never had a problem with believing now, but now I feel like something unbelievable has happened,” echoed 40-year-old Melissa McJunkin, who was concerned about the integrity of her vote after hearing the stories. Voter fraud in general elections, but anyway.
“I think it’s important what happens next,” she says.
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