Survey: Republicans are more suspicious about election hacking claims

Confidence in the legitimacy of the recent U.S. election results differs depending on a person’s preferred political party, according to a 1,500-person online survey conducted by the bipartisan Democracy Fund.

Though President-elect Donald Trump often propagated rumors that the election would be “rigged” against him, his supporters are now more likely to be dismissive of those suggestions.

Nearly half of participating Democrats said they believe an “electronic security breach or hack impacted the vote” count. In contrast, just 31 percent of republican-leaning respondents said they believe hackers were able to influence U.S. presidential election results.

These divisions cut along both party and racial lines. For example, compared to 32 percent of surveyed white voters, more than 50 percent of Hispanic respondents and 58 percent of African Americans expressed concern that an electronic security breach or hack occurred and that it somehow impacted election results.

Similarly, younger U.S. voters — representative of both parties — appeared more concerned about the prospect of voter fraud than their elder counterparts. 

Though there has been virtually no evidence of voter fraud occurring at scale in a way which could sway electoral outcomes, confidence in election systems continues to decrease year-over-year, according to the Democracy Fund.