The results of two new Monmouth University polls published in June revealed that a significant number of Americans view President Joe Biden’s win as the result of election fraud, and are opposed to being vaccinated against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The polls, conducted via telephone between June 9 and 14, included 810 U.S. adults.
In the poll on voting, published on June 21, 32 percent of respondents stated that Biden’s 2020 presidential race victory was due to voter fraud, “a number that has not budged since the November election.” 14 percent of the American public and 29 percent of Republicans said that they will never accept Biden as president.
71 percent supported making in-person early voting easier, while 16 percent felt that it should be made harder. With regard to voting by mail, only 50 percent said the process should be made easier, while 39 percent wanted the process to be more difficult. 80 percent supported mandating voter IDs be shown to cast ballots, while 18 percent opposed the idea.
“Approval of making early voting easier stands at 89% among Democrats, 68% among independents, and 56% among Republicans. Support for requiring a photo ID to vote stands at 62% among Democrats, 87% among independents, and 91% among Republicans. Only Democrats back making voting by mail easier to do, with 84% supporting this idea compared to just 40% of independents and 26% of Republicans,” according to the survey.
Thirty-three percent of survey participants saw the 2020 election audits as “legitimate efforts to identify possible voting irregularities,” while 20 percent believed that the audits would strengthen democracy.
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In the COVID-19 poll results published on June 23, 21 percent of respondents opposed getting a COVID-19 vaccine, a figure that has remained “fairly consistent” throughout the year.
“Among the 1 in 5 Americans who say they will not get the vaccine if they can avoid it, 69% either identify with or lean toward the Republican Party while just 13% align with the Democrats. Among those who are persuadable about the vaccine, 44% are Republicans or lean toward that party and 39% are Democrats or Democratic leaners,” the article states.
Only 6 percent of those refusing the vaccine attribute the decline in COVID-19 cases to the vaccines, while 55 percent believe the virus has mostly run its course. Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents believe Biden has done a good job handling the pandemic, while 32 percent believe he has done poorly.
Other surveys
In June, Gallup published the results of a COVID-19 survey conducted between May 18 and 23, with 24 percent of participants stating that they do not plan to get vaccinated. Within this group, 78 percent said they are unlikely to reconsider their decision, including 51 percent who said they are “not likely at all” to change their minds.
46 percent of Republicans, 31 percent of Independents, and 6 percent of Democrats do not plan to get vaccinated. 33 percent of middle-aged Americans, 22 percent of younger Americans, and 20 percent of older Americans do not want to get the jab.
Gallup polls in March and April found “no dominant reason among vaccine-reluctant individuals for their intention not to get vaccinated,” but a commonly cited reason was the inability to verify the safety of the vaccines.
“Slightly fewer expressed concerns about the timeline for developing the vaccine (16%) or mistrust of vaccines in general (16%). Ten percent said they already have immunity because they have had COVID-19, while 10% cite allergies or concern about allergies as the reason they do not plan to get vaccinated,” the survey said.
Two popular mRNA COVID-19 shots being administered across the U.S. are those made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both vaccines have only been given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Moderna’s vaccine studies are expected to be completed only by Oct. 27, 2022, while Pfizer-BioNTech’s study completion date is estimated to be May 2, 2023. Similarly, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J)’s DNA vaccine study completion date is estimated to be Jan. 2, 2023.
A June 24-25 survey conducted by Hill-HarrisX found that almost 56 percent of Republicans voters believed that Biden won the White House due to election fraud. 20 percent of Independents agreed, while 31 percent were unsure. Overall, 27 percent of respondents agreed that voter fraud played a role, while 18 percent were unsure.
With reporting by Prakash Gogoi.
