Less than a month before a critical U.S. midterm election, a new survey finds that most independent voters and supporters of President Donald Trump's Republican Party do not believe elections will be conducted honestly.
Gallup poll results released Wednesday show that only 37% of Republicans and 35% of independents expressed confidence in the country's election system, significantly lower than the 63% among Democrats.
Overall, 49% of Americans said they trust the honesty of elections, while 51% said they do not. Those figures are unchanged from the last midterm cycle in 2022.
Gallup noted that the results "mark a shift from 2025, the first year of Trump's second term, when trust among supporters (51%) was slightly higher than among opponents (45%)."
According to Gallup, the figures reflect deep and historic partisan divisions over confidence in U.S. elections.
"Since 2025 and Trump's return to the White House, the relationship between approval of leadership and confidence in elections has disappeared," Gallup wrote.
The organization said the United States is the only country among more than 100 surveyed annually over the past 15 years to show this pattern – confidence in U.S. election integrity is markedly higher among those who disapprove of leadership under Trump (52%) than among those who approve (41%).
In more than 100 countries where the poll tracks views on national leadership and confidence in elections, supporters of the government typically tend to trust their country's elections more.
In 2025, 70% of people worldwide who approved of their national leadership expressed confidence in the honesty of elections, compared with 30% among disapprovers.
"The current American pattern is highly unusual compared with the rest of the world," Gallup observed.
According to Gallup, under former U.S. President Joe Biden, 81% of Americans who approved of the government expressed confidence in elections, compared with only 30% among disapprovers.
Gallup suggests this unusual divide could affect the November election, raising questions about whether some voters will view the results as legitimate.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
