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EXCLUSIVE POLL: Majority of Michiganders trust voting system but split along party lines

Posted at 6:00 AM, Oct 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-28 11:39:12-04

Will your vote count on General Election Day? This issue has become one of the latest debates on the U.S. Presidential campaign trail. Republican nominee Donald Trump has been telling his supporters that the election is “rigged” and has called for poll watchers.

The Democratic National Committee has asked for federal judge to block such efforts. So we asked 600 likely Michigan voters in our new and exclusive WXYZ-TV 7/Detroit Free Press Poll how confident they were that votes would be counted accurately. Sixty-two percent said they were “confident” there would not be election fraud. Thirty-six percent said they were “not confident.”

Bernie Porn, President of EPIC MRA, the polling firm that conducted the survey for our statewide media partners in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint and Lansing, said: “Donald Trump has been able to convince his followers that this year’s election is rigged and that doesn’t bold well for post election acceptance in America if Democrat Hillary Clinton wins.”

Among Trump supporters, 63% believe that someone will tamper with their vote while 87% of Clinton supporters have confidence in the integrity of the American voting system. Political party breakout closely resembles loyal candidate followers. Eighty-two percent of Democrats have faith in the voting system and 64% of Independents trust it. However, 61% of Republicans do not.

The survey was conducted October 22 – 24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.0%. Thirty percent the respondents interviewed answered questions on their mobile devices.

POLL RESULTS BELOW:

How confident are you that the votes cast across the country in the upcoming election will be accurately counted and there will not be any election fraud which could cause the election results to be rigged – very confident, mostly confident, only a little confident, or not really confident at all?

62% Confident

36% Not confident

 

Across Party Lines:

Democrats:
82% Confident of Election Vote
17% Not Confident
1% Undecided

Republicans:
36% Confident of Election Vote
61% Not Confident
3% Undecided

Independents:
64% Confident of Election Vote
35% Not Confident
1% Undecided