Many Americans are skeptical of the communications from both campaigns

Washington DC, October 25, 2024— New ABC News/Ipsos polling finds that Americans are skeptical of communications from the major party candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Most Americans feel the proposals coming out of the campaigns are mainly to get people to vote for them rather than policies each candidate intends to implement. However, most Americans think that Trump says things that are not true, at least somewhat often, with Americans divided on whether that’s the case for Harris. After reading a definition of a fascist, a plurality of Americans think Trump is a fascist, fewer say the same of Harris.

Read more on ABC News.

Read more about this poll here:

The presidential race remains close

Most Americans are prepared to accept the election results as legitimate

Detailed findings:

1. A plurality of Americans think Trump is a fascist, while far fewer the same about Harris.

• When given a definition of a fascist as “a fascist often is defined as a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents,” about two in five Americans (42%) identify Trump as a fascist. Sixteen percent say the same about Harris.
• Six percent say that both Trump and Harris are fascists, and one in three (33%) say that neither candidate is a fascist.
• Among Americans who don’t support Harris, 56% say a Harris win would be a crisis for the country, while one in four (27%) think a Harris win would be a setback but not a crisis and 14% think it would be okay.
• Similarly, among Americans who don’t support Trump, 60% say a Trump win would be a crisis. About one in four (25%) feel that a Trump win would be a setback but not a crisis, and 13% feel the country would be okay.

2. Most Americans think Trump frequently says things that are not true. Americans are divided on whether that’s the case for Harris.

• Most Americans (63%) think Trump says things that are not true somewhat often or more, while 36% think he doesn’t often say things that are not true. Americans are split on whether Harris says things that are not true (48% often vs. 50% not often).
• However, more say Trump over Harris says things that are not true “very often” (48% for Trump vs. 31% for Harris).
• Two in three Americans (64%) think President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election, something that has held roughly steady since tracking began on this question in 2021. Thirty-three percent of Americans say President Biden did not legitimately win the election.

3. Most Americans are skeptical of the policies and plans each candidate is pushing out.

• When discussing the future, Americans are split on whether Harris and Trump are mostly trying to explain what they’d do as president or avoiding explanations.
• More Americans think Trump and Harris are mainly making proposals that are just meant to get people to vote for them, with fewer believing the candidates are primarily making proposals they plan to carry out.

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted October 18 to 22, 2024, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel^®. Invitations were sent to 4,917 panelists, resulting in 2,808 completed interviews. In quality control, 67 respondents were removed for skipping half or more of the questions or completing the survey in the fastest 1 percent times. For more precise analysis, the survey includes oversamples of n=140 Black people, n=145 Hispanic people and n=151 people age 18-29, with these groups scaled to their correct proportion of the population in weighting.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population. KnowledgePanel members receive a per survey incentive, usually the equivalent of $1 (though for some it is $2) in points, that can be redeemed for cash or prizes. No prenotification email was sent prior to field. Panelists receive a unique login to the survey and are only able to complete it one time. Two email reminders were sent to hard-to-reach respondents. Hard-to-reach is defined as 18-29 years old or non-Whites, less than high school or did not vote in the 2020 presidential election.  The remainder of the sample received one reminder email.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region by metropolitan status, household income, language dominance, 2020 presidential vote choice, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from 2024 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) from the US Census Bureau. Language dominance benchmarks are from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS). The 2020 presidential vote choice benchmarks came from the federal elections 2020 election results for the U.S. President while the Party Identification came from the 2024 National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS). The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (No high school diploma or GED, High school graduate (high school diploma or the equivalent GED), Some college or Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or above)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) by Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Language Dominance (English dominant, Bilingual, Spanish dominant, non-Hispanic)
• 2020 Presidential Vote Choice (Biden, Trump, Another candidate, Not asked)
• Party Identification (Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Not lean, Lean Democrat, Democrat).

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.14. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. Sampling error is only one potential source of error. There may be other unmeasured non-sampling error in this or any poll. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Mallory Newall
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 374-2613
[email protected]

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