WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nearly a third of Americans believe our upcoming November elections will be honest and open. That polling is from the Public Affairs Council, a nonpartisan, nonpolitical association.
The PAC said the survey gives an in-depth look at American public opinion on challenges and issues facing business, government and society. “This year we explored concerns about election integrity, the potential for political violence, the impact of disinformation, distrust of political news, political party views about business, and how Americans view corporate political involvement,” the study said.
The poll reveals 36% believe the 2024 elections will be honest and open to rightful voters, while 44% have serious doubts about honesty and openness.
“We measured two aspects of integrity: there’s honesty, like were the ballots counted properly, was there anything done illegally in terms of the vote count,” said PAC President and CEO Doug Pinkham. “The other is openness. In other words, does everyone who has a right to vote are they allowed to vote.”
“The differences are interesting because the Democrats are more worried about openness and the Republicans are more worried about honesty,” said Pinkham.
The PAC poll said 68% of Americans believe disinformation will affect the outcome of the elections either “somewhat” or “significantly”. In a 2023 poll, the PAC said people believed social media and the news media were the two top sources of disinformation. That’s changed in this year’s polling. Their polling now shows Republican candidates are listed as the top spot for most likely sources of disinformation, followed by news media and then Democratic candidates.
The PAC said disinformation about our elections integrity also comes from foreign states like Russia, China and North Korea. U.S. officials said Russia has interfered in our previous elections and they’re already at it again by using fake online accounts and bots to sway voters.
“One of the things that was disappointing from the survey was only 11 percent of Americans believe that Russian actors and other foreign countries, their disinformation might impact the outcome,” said Pinkham. “I think people are greatly underestimating the impact the foreign entities have on that.”
Pinkham adds learning how to become a better consumer of information can help remedy distrust in our elections. He said one way to do that is to check the source of where that information is coming from.
