The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

As Trump leans into attacks on mail voting, GOP officials confront signs of Republican turnout crisis

August 3, 2020 at 10:47 a.m. EDT
President Trump said last week that mail voting will be “catastrophic for our nation.” (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s unfounded attacks on mail balloting are discouraging his own supporters from embracing the practice, according to polls and Republican leaders across the country, prompting growing alarm that one of the central strategies of his campaign is threatening GOP prospects in November.

Multiple public surveys show a growing divide between Democrats and Republicans about the security of voting by mail, with Republicans saying they are far less likely to trust it in November. In addition, party leaders in several states said they are encountering resistance among GOP voters who are being encouraged to vote absentee while also seeing the president describe mail voting as “rigged” and “fraudulent.”