The Effects of Unsubstantiated Claims of Voter Fraud on Confidence in Elections

Political elites sometimes seek to delegitimize election results using unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Most recently, Donald Trump sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 US presidential election by falsely alleging widespread fraud. Our study provides new evidence demonstrating the corrosive effec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental political science Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 34 - 49
Main Authors Berlinski, Nicolas, Doyle, Margaret, Guess, Andrew M., Levy, Gabrielle, Lyons, Benjamin, Montgomery, Jacob M., Nyhan, Brendan, Reifler, Jason
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.01.2023
Subjects
Confidence
Democracy
Election results
Midterm elections
Political elites
Political science
Presidential elections
Rebellions
Research Article
Trump, Donald J
Voter fraud
United States > US
social media
Misinformation
voter fraud
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Summary:Political elites sometimes seek to delegitimize election results using unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Most recently, Donald Trump sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 US presidential election by falsely alleging widespread fraud. Our study provides new evidence demonstrating the corrosive effect of fraud claims like these on trust in the election system. Using a nationwide survey experiment conducted after the 2018 midterm elections – a time when many prominent Republicans also made unsubstantiated fraud claims – we show that exposure to claims of voter fraud reduces confidence in electoral integrity, though not support for democracy itself. The effects are concentrated among Republicans and Trump approvers. Worryingly, corrective messages from mainstream sources do not measurably reduce the damage these accusations inflict. These results suggest that unsubstantiated voter-fraud claims undermine confidence in elections, particularly when the claims are politically congenial, and that their effects cannot easily be mitigated by fact-checking.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:2052-2630
2052-2649
DOI:10.1017/XPS.2021.18