WASHINGTON (AP) – Robert Reed says he will always believe the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump. The retired police officer turned construction worker believes fraud marred the vote, no matter how many courts dismissed that claim. Still, a day after the Electoral College made Joe Biden’s victory official, the ardent Trump supporter from the suburbs of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was ready to move on.
“I think it’s pretty much over,” Reed said of Trump’s ongoing quest to reverse the election results. “I trust the Electoral College.”
Trump has been on a mission for weeks to convince his loyal base that his victory has been stolen and the match rigged. With the help of conservative media, polls show that he has had significant success. But now that the Electoral College has formalized Biden’s victory and Republican officials, including Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, finally recognizing him as president-elect, many Trump voters across the country seem to be doing the same.
Interviews with voters, along with new polls of Republicans, suggest that their baseless doubts about the integrity of the vote remain. But there is much less consensus on what to do about it and whether that resentment should continue.
For some, like Reed, the electoral college vote marked the end of a trial. Others have vowed to continue to protest with demonstrations such as the one that turned violent in Washington, DC, over the weekend. And some said they hoped GOP leaders would push for more research to ease the doubts Trump had sown.
It’s people like Scott Adams, a retiree and Trump voter who lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, who said he accepted Biden’s win – but “with reservations.”
Adams said he has heard too much discussion about voting irregularities on Fox News and the conservative talk radio to trust the election results and does not feel he will ever know the true margin of victory. (Biden won the Electoral College by 306 votes to 232.)
But Adams does not think the election was rigged enough to change the outcome, even though he believes there was “enough rigging that there should be more question marks.” He would like to see more studies.
Republicans across the country – from local officials to governors to Attorney General William Barr – have repeatedly said there is no evidence that massive voter fraud affected the outcome. Trump and his allies have filed a series of lawsuits, but almost all of them have been dismissed by judges. The Supreme Court, made up of three Trump-nominated justices, declined requests to hear a few cases intended to invalidate the election outcome in key states on the battlefield.
Still, it was difficult for many Trump voters to come to terms with this pile of evidence. They expressed disbelief that Trump could have lost, given the huge crowds he drew to his meetings. Some said their suspicions were bolstered by the mainstream media’s reluctance to voice Trump’s baseless claims. And they repeatedly pointed to the slower-than-usual vote count as evidence that something had gone wrong.
“Something isn’t right here,” said Reed, who lives in East Lampeter Township.
The explanation is well known: In many states, an influx of post-in ballots, mostly issued by Democrats, was counted later than personally-issued ballots. Still, Reed said he felt the court should have spent more time investigating.
‘I will always believe it was stolen from him. I really will never be able to have peace of mind that it wasn’t, ”he said.
Others were less willing to join.
“I don’t trust that result. I think the election was a fraud. I think the election has been stolen. I don’t know how anyone could not think that. All you have to do is look at the results, ”said Katherine Negrete, 55, a teacher who lives in Peoria, Arizona.
Negrete is among those hoping Trump can win if the Supreme Court intervenes (there is no indication that this will happen) or if Congress chooses to accept an “alternate slate” from Trump voters from different states. Election experts have said this plan has no legal path, and Republican Senate leaders have discouraged it.
Still, Negrete said, “hopefully Congress will do the right thing” and expressed frustration at the dwindling options.
‘I don’t know what we can do about it. If we don’t have courts standing up for us, ”she said. ‘If we don’t have an attorney general stand up and say,’ This was wrong and we need to investigate. ‘ What must we do? Should we fight brother against brother? It’s crazy. “
Biden has vowed to bring Americans together and work down the aisle. His success on both fronts may depend on how many Republicans stick to their election grievances. A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month found that 38% of registered voters, including 77% of Republicans, said they believed there was widespread fraud in the presidential election.
And a recent Fox News poll found that 36% of voters, including 77% of Trump voters, think Trump’s election was stolen. However, the same poll also found that about 8 in 10 voters in total, and about half of Trump voters, said they will at least give Biden a chance as president.
Matt Vereline, 52, a member of the pro-Trump group “Long Island Loud Majority” is not in the mood for reconciliation.
Vereline, who lives in Bohemia, New York, is convinced that “there was a lot more voter fraud than we know,” although he is unsure whether this changed the outcome. But that doesn’t stop him from rallying around what he thinks is unjust. After all, that’s what Democrats did to Trump, he says.
‘Haven’t they cried for four years about Russian collusion, which had not been proven? So now I’m going to cry about voter fraud for four years, ”he said. ‘They didn’t accept it. Why should I accept Biden? I know there is nothing I can do about it. I know a meeting will not change the course of who is elected president. It is whatever will be. But if my friends want to get together and complain about it in a peaceful way and voice our opinion, then I’ll go. “
Others believe that Biden won fair and square. Steve Volkman, a Republican who works in construction in Mesa, Arizona, said he made peace weeks ago with the loss of Trump.
“I voted for Trump, but people have to get over it,” Volkman said, leaning against his pickup. “Certainly he (Biden) won the majority vote – landslide. It’s already over for me. ”
Catherine Templeton, a Republican in South Carolina who served in the administration of the former Nikki Haley administration, said that despite the level of support for Trump in red states such as hers, she was sure voters would be willing to accept Biden as president. accept.
“Obviously, South Carolina supports President Trump, but I think you’ll see that when Republicans don’t get their way, they move on,” said Templeton, who lives in Charleston. “It’s time to move on.”
It remains to be seen, for the time being, how persistent concerns about the integrity of the vote will affect turnout in future elections. Both sides are focused on Georgia, where a few second elections will determine which party controls the US Senate.
Denise Adams, 50, said she has doubts about “questionable activity” in the general election. But she turned out to vote early on Monday in Kennesaw, a suburb northwest of Atlanta.
“I don’t want to lose our freedoms,” she said, reiterating the GOP’s misleading claims that the Democrats would usher in “socialism.” “We are losing our rights and freedoms in our country.”
“I’ve never had a problem trusting it now, but now I feel like there’s something going on that I don’t trust,” repeated Melissa McJunkin, 40, who remains concerned about the integrity of her voice after she heard stories. of voter fraud in the general elections, but it turned out nonetheless.
“I think it’s important for what’s going to happen next,” she said.
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Cooper reported from Mesa, Arizona. Associated Press writers, Emily Swanson in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi in Atlanta, Sophia Tulp in Rome, Georgia, and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.