Will Kamala Harris accept the outcome of the 2024 presidential election unequivocally and without qualifications?
We don't know because no one has bothered to ask her. It's relevant because many Democrats are claiming that Republicans are preparing to steal the election.
"Georgia’s MAGA elections board is laying the groundwork for an actual stolen election," headlines a Vox piece on a suit by Democrats in Georgia to overturn new rules created by the Georgia Board of Elections that Democrats say would "sabotage" the vote.
Has anyone bothered to ask Harris if she'll accept the Georgia results? I thought not.
Only asking Donald Trump the question of accepting the outcome of an election presupposes that only Trump is asking questions. Democrats are asking questions too, only they're framed as "legitimate" while Trump's questions are bogus.
“I think we saw efforts by Republicans in 2020 that were pretty ham-handed,” said Marc Elias, a top Democratic voting rights lawyer. “I worry that there will be both legal and extralegal efforts by Republicans to keep ballots from being counted.”
Trump has kept his options open on whether he's going to accept the result of the election. Given his history, if it's close, he's almost certain to challenge results in several states if he loses.
I hasten to add that there is absolutely nothing illegal about challenging the results. There's nothing illegal about filing a legal challenge in an individual state. There's nothing illegal about legally contesting the results of an election in any state. There's nothing illegal about calling for a recount in any state.
There's even nothing illegal about convening an alternate slate of electors ("fake electors"). A jury will decide if those alternate Trump electors in several states were convened fraudulently.
Is "sowing the seeds of doubt" about election integrity illegal? Of course not. "Sounding the alarm" about election integrity is a fine American tradition that we don't concern ourselves with today because we're not supposed to ask questions.
Asking Donald Trump to promise to abide by the election results is idiotic. The press doesn't care if Trump will abide by the results. They know the answer to that question already. The point is to use Trump's "paranoid" doubts as a means of assuring voters that the election is on the up and up and there's no funny business going on.
Ignoring Harris's opinion on the same subject also raises doubts about Trump. What's he so worried about if Harris doesn't have a care in the world?
A new loaded poll from ABC about public opinion of election integrity reveals the effect of this narrative on voters.
Eighty-one percent of Americans in a new ABC News/Ipsos poll say that regardless of which candidate they support, they are prepared to accept the outcome of the election. Fewer, but still 68%, see Harris as prepared to accept the outcome. Just 29% say the same about Trump.
Nearly all of Harris' supporters, 92%, say they personally are prepared to accept the outcome. That declines to 76% of Trump's supporters. Instead, 21% of his supporters -- which translates to 8% of all adults -- are not prepared to do so.
Other, sharper political divisions inform views in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos. Just 6% of Harris' supporters think Trump is prepared to accept the election outcome, rising to a still-mild 58% among his own supporters. Ninety-seven percent of Harris' supporters think she is prepared to accept the outcome; among Trump's supporters, only 44% think the same.
Not surprisingly, ideology plays the largest role in accepting the outcome of the election.
Ideology is another factor: At least eight in 10 people who are liberal, moderate or somewhat conservative are prepared to accept the outcome, dropping to 64% among those who identify themselves as very conservative.
Just 38% of very conservatives are confident that votes will be counted accurately this year, rising to 50% of somewhat conservatives, 68% of moderates and 89% of liberals. And only 21% of very conservatives think Biden legitimately won in 2020; this doubles to 42% of somewhat conservatives, then jumps to 70% of moderates and 92% of liberals.
Do liberals reserve unto themselves the sole right to legitimately challenge an election? Let's ask Kamala Harris that question. And while we're at it, we should ask her the exact same question asked of Donald Trump: Will she accept the results of the 2024 election?
