Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Donald Trump definitely did not win the 2020 presidential election, but nearly six in 10 GOP voters polled by CNN say it’s at least somewhat important for Republicans to continue believing that he did. The poll, conducted over the past month, found that 36 percent Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said insisting Trump won is a “very important” part of being a Republican. Another 23 percent said it’s “somewhat important.”
There are a couple different ways to look at this. As CNN notes, those numbers are actually significantly lower than the percentage of Republicans who pointed to “more traditional partisan markers” as core parts of their political identity. I guess that’s what passes for good news about the Party of Lincoln these days:
Most Republicans also consider support for Trump — and his false claim to have won the 2020 election — to be an important part of their own partisan identity alongside support for conservative principles. About six in 10 say that supporting Trump, and that believing that he won in 2020, are at least a somewhat important part of what being a Republican means to them. More, though, point to more traditional partisan markers, with 69% saying it’s at least somewhat important to oppose Democratic policies, 81% to support the Republicans in Congress, 85% to hold conservative values and positions and 86% to believe the federal government should have less power.
Still, 59 percent of Republicans say believing Trump somehow won the election is an important part of being a Republican. Seems pretty bad!
