Whether or not you believe Donald Trump's talk of a "rigged" election, it would appear that a large number of Americans are buying it. A new poll released this morning by Politico and the non-partisan media and tech company Morning Consult, show it's a really large number.
The poll shows that 41 percent of all registered voters believe in the possibility of the presidential election being "stolen" from Trump through voter fraud. When you look at only Republicans, the number who think it's possible jumps to 73 percent. Of the registered Democrats who were surveyed, 17 percent think fraud is a possibility, which is still a surprisingly large number. The pollsters talked to 1,999 registered voters to get the results.
Trump has been suggesting the possibility that the election is rigged against him, not only by "the media," but also at polling places, possibly because he's seeing the same numbers we all are and preparing for defeat.
Hillary Clinton is beating him by double digits in some polls since his hot mic comments about grabbing women came out, followed by a parade of women accusing him of sexual assault.
Trump's talk of a rigged election even forced his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, to address it during a TV appearance on Meet the Press over the weekend, where he was asked if he and Trump would accept whatever happens on Nov. 8.
"We will absolutely accept the result of the election ... But the American people are tired of the obvious bias in the national media," Pence said, according to NBC News.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who has been feuding with Trump, pushed back on the whole "rigged" election thing with a statement through a spokesperson (via Time):
"Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity."
