WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been on a mission to prove that his victory was stolen and the contest was rigged. But now that the Electoral College has formalized Joe Biden’s win and Republican officials, including Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, are finally acknowledging Biden as president-elect, many Trump voters across the country seem to be doing the same.
Interviews with voters, along with fresh surveys of Republicans, suggest their doubts about the integrity of the vote remain. But there is far less consensus on what should be done about it and whether to carry that resentment forward.
For some, the Electoral College vote was the clear end of a process. Others have vowed to continue to protest with demonstrations like the one that turned violent in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. And some said they hoped GOP leaders would press for more investigations to put the doubts Trump sowed to rest.
They are people like Scott Adams, a retiree and Trump voter living in Rehoboth Beach, Del., who said he accepts Biden’s victory — but “with reservations.”
Adams said he’s heard too much discussion about irregularities in the vote count on Fox New and conservative talk radio to trust the election’s outcome and doesn’t feel he’ll ever know the true margin of victory. Biden won the Electoral College by a vote of 306 to 232.
But Adams doesn’t think the election was rigged enough to change the outcome, even if he believes it was “rigged enough that it should be questioned more.” He’d like to see more investigations.
Republicans across the country — from local officials to governors to Attorney General William Barr — have said there is no evidence mass voter fraud affected the outcome. Trump and his allies filed a flurry of lawsuits, but nearly all have been dismissed by judges. The Supreme Court denied requests to hear a pair of cases aimed at invalidating the outcome of the election in key battleground states.
Many Trump voters have expressed disbelief that Trump could have lost, given the huge crowds he drew to his rallies. Some said their suspicions were heightened by the mainstream media’s reluctance to air Trump’s claims. And they point to the slower-than-usual vote count as evidence something had gone awry.
“Something’s not right here,” said Reed, 61, who lives in East Lampeter Township.
The explanation is well known — in many states, an influx of mail-in ballots, overwhelmingly cast by Democrats, were tallied later than ballots cast in person. Still, Reed said he thought the courts should have spent more time investigating.
“I’ll always believe that it was stolen from him. I’ll really never be able to have peace of mind that it wasn’t,” he said.
Others were less willing to go along.
“I don’t trust that result. I think that the election was a fraud. I think the election was stolen. I don’t know how anybody could not think that. All you have to do is look at the results,” said Katherine Negrete, 55, a teacher living in Peoria, Ariz.
Negrete is among those who holds out hope that Trump can win if the Supreme Court intervenes or Congress chooses to accept an “alternative slate” of Trump electors from several states. Election experts have said that scheme has no legal pathway and Republican Senate leaders have discouraged it.
Still, Negrete said, “hopefully Congress will do the right thing” and she expressed frustration with dwindling options.
Biden has vowed to bring Americans together and work across the aisle. His success on both fronts may depend on how many Republicans hold on to their election grievances.
Matt Vereline, 52, a member of the pro-Trump group Long Island Loud Majority is not in the mood for reconciliation.
Vereline, who lives in Bohemia, N.Y., is convinced that “there was a lot more voter fraud than we know about,” though he’s not sure whether it changed the outcome.
Others believe Biden won fair and square. Steve Volkman, a Republican who works in construction in Mesa, Ariz., said he made peace with Trump’s loss weeks ago.
“I voted for Trump, but people gotta get over it,” Volkman said, while leaning against his pickup. “For sure, [Biden] won the majority vote — landslide. To me, it’s already over.”
Catherine Templeton, a South Carolina Republican who served in former Gov. Nikki Haley’s administration, said that, despite the level of support for Trump in red states like her own, she felt sure voters would be willing to accept Biden as president.
“Obviously, South Carolina supports President Trump, but I think you’ll see when Republicans don’t get their way, they move on,” said Templeton, who lives in Charleston. “It’s time to move on.”
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Swanson, Nicholas Riccardi, Sophia Tulp and Meg Kinnard of The Associated Press.