Donald Trump Should Concede If He Loses, Supporters Say

A large number of Republican voters want Donald Trump to concede if he loses next month’s presidential election to Kamala Harris, according to a new poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek.
The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey found 44 percent of eligible voters who have voted, or plan to vote, for Trump believe he should “publicly concede defeat to Kamala Harris” if defeated on November 5, compared to 34 percent who don’t think he should and 21 percent who answered “don’t know.” By contrast, 65 percent of those who either have backed, or plan to back, Harris said Trump should concede defeat if beaten, compared with 21 percent who disagreed and 14 percent who were unsure.
The 2020 presidential election was won by Joe Biden, but Trump is continuing to insist it was stolen from him by fraud despite this claim being rejected repeatedly in court and by independent election experts. On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed Congress in a bid to block the certification of Biden’s election victory, sparking violence that saw one person shot dead by police and dozens of officers injured.
Overall, the Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll found that 51 percent of eligible voters believe Trump should publicly concede if beaten in the presidential election, compared with 30 percent who disagree and 19 percent who said they don’t know.
The strongest opposition to Trump conceding if beaten came from supporters of Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, with just 22 percent of this group supporting a concession in these circumstances, against 69 percent who are opposed, with 8 percent unsure. Among those who don’t know who they will vote for yet, 24 percent said Trump should publicly concede if defeated, 19 percent disagreed and 56 percent said they didn’t know.
Across all voters, support for Harris conceding if defeated was broader, at 57 percent, with 25 percent opposed and 18 percent unsure. A Harris concession under these circumstances would be supported by 58 percent of her supporters and 61 percent of Trump’s, though 26 percent of her backers and 22 percent of the Republican nominee’s would be opposed.
Redfield and Wilton Strategies polled 1,500 eligible voters across the United States on October 21, with the results having a 2.53 percent margin of error.
It also found that 67 percent of voters think they have a good idea of what a second Trump presidency would look like, compared to 57 percent for Harris. On which candidate is most likely to make them better off in four years, the two rivals were tied, with 43 percent of eligible voters for each.
A Pew Research survey of 4,025 registered voters, conducted between September 8 and October 6, found 72 percent believe that if Trump wins Harris will “accept the result and publicly acknowledge that Trump won.” However if Harris wins, only 24 percent of voters think Trump will “accept the results” and acknowledge her victory.
Newsweek contacted representatives of the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.
Polling suggests the 2024 presidential contest remains tight, with Thursday’s analysis of recent surveys by election website FiveThirtyEight giving Harris a 1.8 percent lead in the national vote, with 48.1 percent against 46.3 percent for Trump. However, overall FiveThirtyEight gives Trump a 51 percent chance of victory, as due to the Electoral College system he could secure a minority of the vote, but win overall as he did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.
Separately, analysis by election website 338Canada, released on October 22, had Harris as favorite overall with its average result giving the Democratic candidate 286 Electoral College votes, ahead of 252 for Trump.