In the wake of Donald Trump’s pending loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans are claiming that it was due to voter fraud and criminal activity.
It isn’t just the politicians and talking heads that think that way. A recent poll from Politico found that “70 percent of Republicans now say they don’t believe the 2020 election was free and fair.”
That’s double the number of Republican voters who felt that way before the election.
However, overwhelming evidence suggests that the election was free and fair and there were no significant issues with voter fraud.
A huge reason why so many Republican voters believe these falsehoods is that they’re constantly being repeated by talking heads on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets.
“The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah poked fun at Republican claims of foul play by creating a supercut of conservatives calling Democrats “sore losers” for claiming there was voter suppression and fraud during tight 2018 mid-term races.
Kayleigh McEnany 2018: “Democrats are being sore losers and they refuse to admit they lost the election, so what do they do? They cry malfeasance, wrongdoing, criminality, fraud!”
Kayleigh McEnany 2020:
Laura Ingraham 2018: “Democrats, more so than Republicans, seem to have a problem conceding defeat. Either the election system broke down or some mystery votes are hiding somewhere.”
Laura Ingraham 2020:
Sean Hannity 2018: “Ramping up election conspiracy theories. Accusing Republicans of outright stealing the election … kinda rich. You know what? Sounds sore loser-ish.”
Sean Hannity 2020:
Jeanine Pirro 2018: “The Democrats are refusing to accept the declared results of the national media. So how do they do this? Lo and behold, they find missing ballots.”
Jeanine Pirro 2020:
The Republican talking heads who called the Democrats sore losers in 2018 were most likely reacting to two close races in Florida and Georgia.
In Florida, there were two nail-biters that drew national media scrutiny. Democrat Andrew Gillum came in a close second to Republican Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race, nearly pulling off an upset.
Also, Republican Rick Scott barely defeated Democrat Bill Nelson for a senate seat.
The close races inspired many to claim voter fraud due to the slow count in Broward and Palm Beach counties. However, these claims were shot down. “There is zero evidence of fraud so far in Florida including in Broward and Palm Beach counties,” Vox said in its fact-check.
Also that year, Democrat Stacey Abrams lost a close race to Republican Brian Kemp in the Florida governor’s race. Many Democrats claimed that Abrams would have won if not for systemic voter suppression by Republicans.
“We previously found it isn’t possible to prove if any election law or policy in Georgia cost Abrams her narrow loss to Republican Brian Kemp,” Politifact said in its fact-check.
