Oct. 23 – More than a third of Mainers say they are unsure that votes will be accurately counted in the upcoming presidential election, according to a new survey.
While 60% of Mainers said they are confident that votes will be counted accurately, 35% said they disagree in a survey of 1,036 residents conducted by Colby College’s Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs. the Maine Community Foundation and Rockland-based research firm Public Engagement Partners. .
These figures vary greatly by party membership, the study showed. Among Democrats, 88% said they were confident in the counts — double the rate among Republicans, at 44%. Among independent voters this share was 45%.
The survey found that Maine residents with lower incomes, less education, those living in the northern parts of the state and older residents were slightly less likely to trust the outcome.
Nicholas Jacobs, deputy director of the Goldfarb Center, said the report highlights Maine’s unique strengths and weaknesses in civic life and aimed to capture fair representation of the state’s 16 counties. He added that it also represents a relatively even mix of Democrats, Republicans and independent voters.
He said the results partly represent an erosion of political trust, in addition to broader “social trust.”
More than half of respondents said they trust people in their local and state communities, but only 30% said they trusted Americans nationally, Jacobs noted.
Quixada Moore-Vissing, director of Public Engagement Partners, said overall the survey shows “significant social forces” in Maine, including higher-than-average voter turnout and attendance at public meetings.
“However, there are some warning signs for Maine, including the fact that most Mainers feel that young people will have to move for opportunities, that trust in both state and national government is low, and that many Mainers do not feel that they are important to their local community. Moore-Vissing said in a statement. “And while most Mainers are confident that their votes will be counted fairly in the upcoming election, more than a third are concerned.”
Local election confidence appears to be broadly following national trends, although the new report shows greater partisan division than the national average.
Nationally, 61% of Americans expressed confidence that the election will be fair and accurate, according to a poll released in August by the Pew Research Center. That poll also showed major differences between Democrats, 77% of whom expressed confidence in the elections, and Republicans, for whom that figure was 47%.
Jacobs said the extent of distrust in the federal election process reflects a trend in which politics has become increasingly “hyper-nationalized” in recent years.
“When we ask people about the Maine elections, trust is much higher, but when we ask about national elections, Mainers are drawn into the same national political story as everyone else,” Jacobs said. “We no longer have the privilege of seeing politics only through our specific local lens.”
The report was released Wednesday, based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau and data from a survey conducted in April, the college said in a statement. That means the data was collected before Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and before any of the presidential or vice-presidential debates.
Jacobs said he “wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of the measures,” particularly confidence in national elections and confidence in government in general, changed in the months since his team collected the data. But he said the survey was intended to address issues and sentiments that resonate far beyond the election cycle.
“We wanted to think about democracy and politics outside of the chaos, frankly, of campaigns and elections,” Jacobs said. “Our democratic well-being or faith in government, those beliefs will persist long after a candidate has left the race or the president has retired. I think many of these (findings) tap into fundamental core values that campaigns do not support. Don’t shake, at least in the short term.”
The report also found that 70% of Mainers are hopeful about the state’s future, although they are pessimistic about the future of the nation as a whole, according to the report. Most are also concerned about young people having to leave the state to find better opportunities.
Forty-six percent of respondents had mixed feelings about newcomers moving to Maine, while 18% said the recent influx was a “bad thing” and 35% said they were a “good thing,” the survey said. Education was a dividing factor here, with 48% of Mainers with at least a bachelor’s degree calling the development a positive change, compared to 26% of those with a high school diploma or less.
Jacobs said the study’s findings appear to reflect a complicated relationship between Mainers’ concerns about the state’s change and the loss of its distinctive character, while also recognizing that some changes feel “inevitable or necessary” to its survival.
The survey also found that six in 10 Mainers believe finding common ground is achievable. Compared to the national average, Mainers were also more likely to follow the news, discuss current events with friends and family and attend public gatherings, the study found.
Copy the story link
