After the ballots are counted: Conspiracies, political violence, and American exceptionalism

Americans have experienced one of the most turbulent postelection periods in recent memory. The 2020 presidential election was marked by record turnout amid new voting procedures in many parts of the country, a response to the coronavirus outbreak. In all, more than 155 million voters cast a ballot in the presidential election.

Despite losing to Joe Biden by six million votes, Donald Trump refused to concede the election, instead launching unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud over social media. Trump’s continued insistence that Biden had not won a legitimate contest and that his opponents were trying to steal the election from him culminated in Trump’s supporters attacking the US Capitol.

The January 2021 American Perspectives Survey finds evidence that Americans are divided over not only how they feel about the 2020 election but also how they perceive the legitimacy of Biden’s win. Political conspiracy theories, including QAnon, have not disappeared after Trump’s defeat, and a significant number of Americans condone the use of violence in the face of political failures. At the same time, most Americans remain committed to the idea that the US is special and unique, even as pride in the country has fallen. CONTINUED

Daniel A. Cox, AEI Survey Center on American Life


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