New Poll of Georgia Voters Shows Only Modest Drop in Voter Confidence During 2020 Election, Runoff, Despite Unprecedented and False Attacks on the Election Process
Washington, D.C. – The Center for Election Innovation & Research released a new survey of Georgia voters to better understand their confidence in the state’s electoral system and processes. This polling took place in October during the general election early voting period, in November shortly after the general election, and in January just prior to the runoff election.
Though voter confidence diminished somewhat post-November, the drop was less than some experts expected, given the sustained foreign and domestic disinformation campaigns designed to diminish voter confidence. The poll focuses on voters’ confidence in the accuracy of individual and statewide vote counts, both overall and by voting method.
“It is heartening to see a relatively small reduction in overall confidence in the face of the unprecedented and false attacks on Georgia’s voting system in the immediate aftermath of the presidential election,” said David Becker, Executive Director and Founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, who commissioned the survey.
“The disinformation campaign to raise doubts about the integrity of Georgia’s elections was without modern precedent. There is no question that the falsehoods about the election had an impact on their intended audience—Republican voters in the state. However, our survey data suggests that while there has been a measurable decline in voter confidence among Republicans, that decline was not as large as one might expect. This is cause for hope.”
Key Findings:
- The January survey showed that 83 percent of respondents were confident their individual votes would be counted as they intended.
- That was down slightly from our October pre-election surveys, which showed 91 percent of respondents were confident.
- Even the vast majority of Republicans remained confident in Georgia’s election process. Before the general election, 93 percent of self-identified Republicans reported they were confident their votes would count as intended. Despite some drop off, a large majority – 71 percent – of Republicans maintained their confidence.
Despite the fact that the Georgia presidential race was counted three times overall—once entirely by hand statewide—it appears that the massive disinformation campaign directed by former President Trump saw some success in diminishing voter confidence, but only among Republicans.
Methods
Each survey’s margin of error was ±4.4% for 500 respondents. October respondents were likely general election voters, and January respondents were likely runoff election voters. November respondents were limited to those who voted in person during the general election.