I have been monitoring polls, pollsters, election forecasts, political analysts, and more in order to get a read on the state of the election, and a pattern has emerged: right-leaning pundits and analysts look at the polls and see signs of a looming Donald Trump victory, while left-leaning pundits and analysts look at the same data and feel confidence that Kamala Harris is going to win.
In the end, when the election is over, roughly half of the country is going to be convinced the election was stolen, regardless of the outcome.
In 2016, the shellshocked left couldn't handle Hillary Clinton’s surprise defeat and convinced itself that Trump had colluded with Russia to steal the election. Despite zero evidence, leftists remain convinced of this fiction. Then, in 2020, suspicion over late-night ballot drops that ultimately changed what appeared to be a Trump victory and turned it into a narrow Biden victory raised red flags to many on the right. In a strange twist, questioning the legitimacy of an election suddenly became taboo.
We’re now two weeks away from Election Day, and both sides are convinced their candidate is headed toward victory, which means that regardless of how this election turns out, roughly half the country will be convinced that the election was stolen.
Now, let's be honest. A Trump loss will be hard for his supporters to accept, especially given the substantial advantages he currently holds. Between higher popularity than in 2016 and 2020, outperforming his polling in both those cycles, dissatisfaction with the Biden-Harris record, the struggling economy, and, of course, outstanding questions about 2020, you can bet there will be skepticism from the right if Kamala somehow pulls this off.
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Conversely, if Trump wins, the left will unleash a torrent of hostility unlike anything we’ve witnessed before. It's been laying the groundwork to blame Russia for Trump's victory for months, and you can bet that it will employ every tactic imaginable to prevent him from taking over, resorting to legal maneuvers and mass protests to delegitimize his presidency. Leftists have done it before and will do it again.
The question is: what can we do about it? When both sides react to elections they lose with distrust in the results, it's a huge problem.
The good news is that there's a simple solution: common-sense election integrity legislation. It’s crucial that both sides can walk away from an election feeling confident in the results, regardless of the outcome.
The only thing standing in the way of that is the Democratic Party. Election integrity is not a partisan issue. Polls show bipartisan support for commonsense reforms like voter ID. Yet the left frequently brands efforts to enhance security as “voter suppression.” But why would anyone oppose measures to ensure the integrity of our elections? Both parties must have faith in the system. The only individuals who gain from electoral chaos are those who thrive on confusion and division. That's the Democratic Party.
We need transparent electoral practices. This includes initiatives like stricter voter ID laws, maintaining accurate voter rolls, ensuring that only citizens can vote, and ensuring that every vote is verifiable. Will it ever happen? I wouldn't count on it. That sadly doesn't bode well for the future of the republic.
