Most Americans are prepared to accept the election results as legitimate

Washington, D.C., October 29, 2024— New ABC News/Ipsos polling finds that most Americans and registered voters say they will accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, regardless of who they support. While most Americans think Vice President Kamala Harris is ready to accept the results of the election as legitimate, far fewer feel Trump is prepared to do the same, unchanged from ABC News/Ipsos polling conducted in August. Most are confident that votes will be counted accurately in the presidential election, which aligns with attitudes during previous elections. Read more on ABC News.

Read more about this poll here:

The presidential race remains close

Many Americans are skeptical of the communications from both campaigns

Detailed findings:

1. Regardless of who they support, most Americans and registered voters are prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate.

• Eighty-three percent of Americans and 86% of registered voters are prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, regardless of which candidate they support. This majority sentiment has remained stable since tracking began on this question in 2016.
• However, fifteen percent of Americans and 12% of registered voters say they are not prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate.
• Sixty-five percent of Americans are very or somewhat confident that votes in the presidential election will be counted accurately, while 35% are not. This level of confidence is similar to previous elections. Attitudes among registered voters also mirror the opinions of the wider public.

2. Most Americans think Harris is prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, while far fewer feel Trump is prepared to do the same.

• Two in three Americans and 69% of registered voters say Harris is prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate. Few Americans and registered voters (31% and 30%, respectively) think Harris is not prepared to accept the election results as legitimate.
• The inverse is true for Trump; 31% of Americans and registered voters feel he is prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, while most Americans and registered voters (66% each) think he is not prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate. This pattern aligns with ABC News/Ipsos polling from August.
• Almost all of Harris’ supporters (97%) believe their candidate is prepared to accept the election results as legitimate; they are also almost unanimous in their opinion that Trump will not accept the results as legitimate (94% think so).
• Trump supporters are more mixed on this, with most thinking Harris will not accept the results as legitimate (59%) and about two in five thinking she will (38%). Most Trump supporters (63%) think Trump will accept the results as legitimate, while few (33%) think he is not prepared to do so.
• However, twice as many undecided Americans believe Harris will accept the election results as legitimate (63%) than think Trump will (29%). A similar pattern emerges for Americans who are not voting, with twice as many thinking Harris will accept the election results as legitimate compared to those who think Trump will (51% for Harris vs. 24% for Trump).

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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