62% Concerned About Election Cheating

Most voters think this year’s election could be impacted by cheating, nearly one-in-five say they received multiple mail-in ballots in 2020 and nine percent (9%) of voters nationally are either not U.S. citizens or aren’t sure if they’re citizens.

A new telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute finds that 62% of Likely Voters are concerned that cheating will affect the outcome of the 2024 election, including 37% who are Very Concerned. Thirty-five percent (35%) aren’t concerned about election cheating, including 15% who are Not At All Concerned. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighteen percent (18%) say that, in the 2020 election, they personally received more than one official ballot in the mail or received a ballot for someone who does not live at their address, while 74% did not. The number who say they got multiple mail-in ballots in 2020 is higher (20%) among voters in six states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) viewed as key “battlegrounds” in this year’s election. “The fact that more than 60% of likely voters are concerned about election integrity should be a massive wake-up call to all those who refuse to admit that potential cheating in elections is a major problem,” said Chris Talgo, editorial director of The Heartland Institute.

“As the 2020 election demonstrated, mass mailing of ballots based on outdated voter rolls, ballot harvesting, unattended drop boxes, and no excuse mail-in voting has made it easier than ever for those who are committed to breaking the law and illegally voting. The fact that nearly one-in-five likely voters received multiple ballots before the 2020 election cements the case for the urgent need for election integrity reform measures across the states.”

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The survey of 2,466 U.S. Likely Voters, and 5,605 Likely Voters in six battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – was conducted on July 5-12, 2024 by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points for the national results, and +/-1 percentage points for battleground states, with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

In the battleground states, a little more than one percent (1%) of Likely Voters say they’re not U.S. citizens, while somewhat fewer (0.85% to be precise) answer they are “not sure” if they’re citizens. These numbers are significantly larger among voters nationally, where more than five percent (5%) say they are not U.S. citizens and a little less than four percent (4%) are not sure if they’re citizens or not.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of voters who say they voted for Donald Trump in 2020, compared to 42% of those who voted for Joe Biden, are at least somewhat concerned that cheating will affect the outcome of the 2024 election.

Twenty-two percent (22%) of Republicans, and 18% of Democrats and voters not affiliated with either major party say they either received more than one official ballot in the mail or received a ballot for someone who does not live at their address in 2020.

Sixty percent (60%) of whites, 65% of black voters, 69% of Hispanics and 67% of other minorities are at least somewhat concerned that the outcome of the 2024 election will be affected by cheating. Whites are less likely than minority voters to say that, in 2020, they either received more than one official ballot in the mail or received a ballot for someone who does not live at their address in 2020.

Voters under 40 are significantly more likely than their elders to say they received extra mail-in ballots in 2020.

Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters earning less than $50,000 a year are more likely to be concerned that cheating will affect the outcome of this year’s election.

“Over the past several months, we have conducted extensive polling on issues relating to election integrity,” said Donald Kendal, director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute. “In December of last year, we discovered that more than one in every five voters admitted to voting fraudulently during the 2020 election. In April of this year, we found that 28% of likely voters admitted they would cheat in the upcoming 2024 election if given the opportunity. Given these past results, it should come as no surprise that a large majority of voters are concerned that cheating will impact the 2024 election. These findings collectively illustrate a dire need for comprehensive election integrity reforms to be instituted in all 50 states.”

Joe Biden has quit his campaign for reelection, but most voters believe the decline in his mental ability poses a danger for America. 

Nearly half of American voters would support laws to protect U.S. business from a European Union (EU) policy that imposes strict environmental, climate, and social justice rules on companies.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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The survey of 2,466 U.S. Likely Voters, and 5,605 Likely Voters in six battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – was conducted on July 5-12, 2024 by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points for the national results, and +/-1 percentage points for battleground states, with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research.