Partisan gap on election confidence narrows as midterm elections approach, new poll finds

Democratic and Republican voters now have similar levels of confidence in elections, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday.

The surveywhich asked registered voters their expectations for how well the midterm elections will be conducted and administered, found that 72% of voters supporting Democratic House candidates and 73% of those supporting Republicans say they think the nationwide elections will be very or somewhat well run.

This is also the first time that Republican confidence in election administration has exceeded that of Democrats since 2018. Republican voter confidence plunged 37 points to 50% in October 2020 after President Donald Trump began to question the security of elections disrupted by the pandemic. Confidence improved to 57% in 2024 and jumped with Trump’s return to the White House.

For Democrats, it was the opposite story. Confidence in elections peaked at 90% two years ago before falling 18 points this year.