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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Do recent polls find that most Americans think the 2020 election was fairly decided?

Thursday, April 29, 2021

By Lisa Freedland

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YES

Recent polls find that most Americans think the 2020 presidential election was fairly decided, though a majority of Republicans disagree.

In late April, CBS News found that 68% of 2,527 adults polled believe Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 contest. Earlier in April, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 57% of more than 1,000 surveyed people believe the election was legitimate. In February, a Rasmussen Reports poll also found that 57% of 918 likely voters said the election was fair.

CBS found that 97% of Democrats and 69% of independents thought Biden won legitimately. The Reuters poll found that 89% of Democrats and 53% of independents thought similarly.

Most Republicans say they disagree: 32% of Republicans surveyed by CBS and 27% of those surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos believed Biden won fairly. Rasmussen found that 61% of Republicans said the election was not fair.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

CBS News CBS News Poll - April 21-24, 2021 (see question 38, p. 4)

Ipsos Reuters/Ipsos poll - April 2, 2021 (see questions 6 and 7)

Rasmussen Reports Most GOP voters still don't think Biden was elected fairly

FiveThirtyEight Pollster ratings

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.