Smart Talk

Smart Talk


Poll confirms Americans deeply divided on election issues

January 19, 2022

A poll by Muhlenberg College and Keep Our Republic finds that Pennsylvanians continue to be polarized when it comes to elections and voting.


Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the poll is how Democrats and Republicans view the 2020 presidential election and see the threats to voting in 2022 differently. For example, 57% of Democrats say voter suppression is what could keep the state from having a safe, secure and accurate election, while most Republicans identified voter fraud and the use of mail-in ballots as what could derail this year’s election when voters will choose members of Congress and the state General Assembly.


The January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was another area of disagreement. 56% of Democrats say it was an insurrection against the U.S. government while 63% of Republicans say it was not. Trump supports stormed the Capitol that day in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe’s Biden election as president.


The poll also showed 57% of voters disapprove of the way President Biden is handling his job and 51% disapprove of how Gov. Tom Wolf is handling his job.


On Wednesday’s Smart Talk, we break down the results of the poll with Christopher Borick, Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion and Mark Medish, co-founder of Keep Our Republic, a non-partisan, national civic education non-profit.  He served as Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director on the National Security Council and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury in the Clinton administration. He also worked on foreign assistance at the State Department and the U.N. Development Program.