Report: Seven Out of Ten Republicans Do Not Accept the Outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election

The December 2020 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,326 adults in the United States about the results of the 2020 presidential election, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccination, and plans for the holidays.

The 2020 Presidential Election

Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election. A month later, most Republicans refuse to accept the outcome -- and do not feel that the election was conducted fairly.

Most Americans (58%) recognize Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. However, only 18% of Republicans say that they accept Biden’s victory. Even fewer Republicans -- just 13% -- feel that the 2020 presidential election was conducted fairly. A bare majority of Americans overall (51%) have confidence that the election was fair. While 88% of Democrats think the election was conducted fairly, three-quarters of Republicans (72%) think the election was unfair to Republicans and an additional 14% of Republicans think the election was unfair to both Republicans and Democrats.

Most Americans knew who they were voting for well in advance of the presidential election. Nearly half (47%) decided as soon as the 2016 election ended -- including 59% of Democrats and 45% of Republicans. Another third (35%) knew how they would vote for over a year. Only 6% decided in the last month of the election.

COVID-19

With over 15 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, four out of ten (41%) Americans now know someone in recovery from coronavirus, or have had coronavirus themselves. This has doubled from 21% at the beginning of May. Another 17% know someone who has died from the virus, including nearly one in three Black Americans (31%). In all, 58% of Americans know someone who has either contracted or passed away from COVID-19.

Despite this, while a plurality (44%) of Americans think that the media is accurately covering the coronavirus, 43% think they are making it sound worse than it actually is. Three-quarters (77%) of Democrats think that the pandemic reporting is mostly accurate, but only 39% of Independents and 12% of Republicans agree.

By a 20-point margin, Americans living in urban areas think that the media is describing the outbreak mostly accurately (52%), not making it sound worse than it is (32%). In rural areas, this perception is reversed, with 56% saying the media is exaggerating the threat of coronavirus, and only 34% saying the media is reporting accurately.

Nearly half of Americans do not believe that the coronavirus is dangerous to everyone. Four out of ten (39%) think it is only dangerous to certain vulnerable people (the elderly and those with other medical conditions). An additional 5% think that coronavirus is not very dangerous to anyone. Only 20% of Republicans and 24% of frequent Fox News viewers describe the coronavirus as dangerous to everyone, compared to 85% of Democrats and 92% of frequent MSNBC viewers.

The Future of the Pandemic

More Americans think that the Biden administration will do a better job handling the coronavirus pandemic than the Trump administration: 52% say Biden will be an improvement, while 35% say the new administration will do a worse job. An overwhelming majority of Democrats (92%) believe the Biden administration will do a better job, compared to 47% of Independents and 9% of Republicans.

Over half (52%) of Americans plan to take a coronavirus vaccine if it becomes available -- 27% do not, and 20% remain unsure. This is a substantial increase from the 34% planning to take the vaccine in October. Three-quarters (72%) of Democrats plan to take the vaccine, along with 49% of Independents and 35% of Republicans. Uncertainty is especially high among Black Americans: 32% are unsure about taking a vaccine.

Despite the changing presidential administration and the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine, most Americans (54%) think that it will still be another six months or more before the pandemic settles down and things in the United States get back to normal. An additional 24% of Americans think that things will never get back to normal.

Please visit civiqs.com for additional daily updates on Americans’ level of concern about the coronavirus epidemic, and views of the response to the coronavirus outbreak by the U.S. government and state and local governments.

Holidays in 2020

After a CDC recommendation to avoid Thanksgiving travel, most Americans (55%) attended a smaller Thanksgiving dinner than usual this year. A third (35%) did not change their plans, and 2% attended a larger Thanksgiving than normal. Over half (54%) of Republicans did not change their Thanksgiving plans, compared to 36% of Independents and 18% of Democrats.

Spending on holiday gifts will be down in 2020, whether due to the pandemic, the state of the economy, or both. While a plurality of Americans (45%) will be spending about the same amount on gifts during this holiday season as they have in previous years, 42% are spending less. A scant 7% say they will be spending more than usual.

Fox News and Conservative Media

Fox News has faced a substantial amount of backlash among its viewership following its coverage of the 2020 presidential election. In late November, President Trump tweeted that Fox News daytime was “virtually unwatchable” and recommended that his followers watch OANN, Newsmax, or “almost anything else.”

From October to December 2020, Fox News’ viewership decreased significantly. In October, 34% of Republicans reported watching Fox News frequently. Now, only 19% of Republicans say they are frequent Fox News viewers. While just 22% of Republicans in October said they did not watch Fox News, that number has doubled post-election to 44%.

Meanwhile, 24% of Republicans now say they watch Newsmax frequently, and 20% watch the One America News Network frequently.

Overall, 37% of Americans watch Fox News either frequently or occasionally, 28% watch Newsmax, and 23% watch the One America News Network. Overall viewership of MSNBC is 41% of Americans.

Civiqs surveyed 1,316 adults in the United States from December 5-8, 2020. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of adults in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.03. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.7% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.