Poll shows majority GOP believes a candidate should not concede if suspect wrongdoing, and the left can’t deal

If polls are to be believed, both Republicans and Democrats are going into the midterm elections either believing that their losing candidates should not concede to their opponents when the final votes are tallied, or they are “not sure” if a concession should be considered, meaning closure on the crucial races may be difficult to come by this November.

A new Yahoo News/YouGov survey, conducted between Sept. 23 and Sept. 27, reveals that 37% of Republicans think the “candidate with fewer votes should continue to challenge the election if they believe it was wrongly decided.” Only 43% stated the candidate should concede, while 21% said they are “not sure” what a candidate should do in that situation.

Democratic voters overwhelmingly feel that a candidate “with fewer votes should concede the election,” with 74% agreeing. That means just over one out of four Dems either believe the losing candidate should keep fighting (13%) or are unsure if they should concede (13%).

Moreover, 21% of Independents want to see their candidate continue to challenge the questioned election, with 57% agreeing the trailing candidate should concede, and 23% “not sure.”

The poll is now being used by libs and “Never Trumpers” to set up a dangerous narrative: Trump and his supporters will destroy our “democracy” and refuse to accept the outcome of November’s elections.

“This is a direct result of Trump’s presidency and his assault on our democracy,” cried one Twitter user.

“Republicans no longer believe in manners or grace,” another lamented.

But let’s hit pause on the hysterics, and first note that the United States of America is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic.

To understand just how polls such as this can be manipulated to further a narrative, an equally accurate — and equally misleading — reading of the poll results would be to say, “Three-quarters of all Democrats believe candidates should abandon their convictions and give up if they believe that fraud occurred in their election.”

Doesn’t that make you want to run out and vote for that candidate? Someone who will immediately fold in the face of corruption?

How quickly do you think Stacey Abrams (D-Ga.) will concede should Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) once again top her tallied votes? She still hasn’t let go of 2018’s loss, and it’s unlikely her supporters would want her to.

The fact is, because the 2020 presidential election was never proven to be legitimate to half of the nation, it is only natural that Republicans would be skeptical heading into 2022. Had the Dems welcomed a truly transparent investigation into the many claims of voter fraud rather than attempt to paint their opponents as dangerous extremists for daring to even ask questions, the poll in question may have shown very different results.

But of course, this never happened. Instead, the Biden administration has weaponized the Justice Department and the FBI to silence and criminalize those who would doubt that Biden garnered the most votes in history from the insulated bubble of his basement.

Remarkably, Democratic voters are, in the majority, content with promising to throw the towel in, election integrity be damned, even before the first votes are cast.

Yahoo News/YouGov asked Americans if “candidates should commit in advance to accepting the results.”

Again, another way to read the question is, “Will you agree in advance that you will blindly accept whatever they tell you when this is over?”

Why would anyone vote for someone who would agree to such a thing?

But, incredibly, 64% of Democrats think the candidates should do just that, and 36% of Republicans and 45% of Independents agree.

And, predictably, the 29% of critically thinking, rightfully suspicious Republicans who passed on the proposal are being held up as… you guessed it… Destroyers of Democracy.

“Accepting the results of free & fair elections is the cornerstone of democratic rule,” stated one user on Twitter. “Any candidate or voter who does not commit in advance to peacefully accepting the result determined by the majority of voters is simply rejecting democracy.”

In the end, the poll itself is of little value, as it is asking about a completely hypothetical scenario.

What is valuable are the reactions from Dems, who are clearly planning to use it as the foundation for a future argument, should Republicans again find themselves pointing to miraculously found ballots and long-dead voters this November.

Melissa Fine

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