Vermonters confident their votes will be counted but fear election interference and political violence, poll finds

As a volatile presidential election draws to a close, Vermonters worry that political leaders will break the law to gain or hold on to power, leaders they support will face violence and people will try to interfere in the election.

Accordingly Latest Green Mountain State Election PollIt was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Research Center between October 29 and November 2. The online poll of 992 likely voters had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8%.

While Vermonters appear concerned about the state of national politics, they appear more optimistic about their interactions with the democratic process. Eighty-six percent of respondents said they were confident their vote would be counted accurately in Tuesday’s general election; Most Vermonters said they were not worried that they or anyone they knew would be subjected to political violence.

The polling station found no major surprises when polling Vermonters. how they plan to vote in presidential and state elections.

Democratic presidential candidates have reliably won Vermont by a landslide, according to the poll, and it appears the party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, will continue the tradition. While 63 percent of respondents said they planned to vote for Harris or had already done so, only 31 percent said they supported former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

State election incumbents are on track for similar success, the survey found, but the survey did not ask voters about the Vermont gubernatorial election, which pits incumbent Democratic/Progressive Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman against his Republican challenger, former Democrat John Rodgers. state senator This race is generally viewed as one of the only competitive statewide elections in Vermont this year.

According to the poll, Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who is running for a fifth two-year term, received the votes of 65 percent of those polled, while his Democratic rival Esther Charlestin could only get 26 percent of the votes. Typical of Scott, his support comes from across the political spectrum. Fifty percent of Democrats said they voted or would vote for him, while only 44% of Democrats said they voted or would vote for Charlestin, their party’s nominee. 72 percent of independents and 90 percent of Republicans said they supported Scott.

The survey revealed that Charlestin, who has just entered politics and is struggling to get buy-in, is not recognized by half of the voters. While those who knew him were more likely to have a positive rather than a negative impression, a full 50% of those surveyed said they didn’t know enough about him.

According to the survey, two names who wanted to be re-elected like Scott were preparing for a big explosion in the congressional races in the state.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they would send U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., back to Capitol Hill for another six years, while only 27% said they support Republican challenger Gerald Malloy.

Similarly, in the race to represent Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint was leading her Republican challenger Mark Coester by 62% to 22%.

The answers to questions about election integrity and political violence have created significant discomfort among Vermonters.

A majority of survey respondents said they were somewhat (39%) or very (50%) concerned that next year people would try to “interfere with the election process using illegal or violent methods.” Meanwhile, a similar share said they were somewhat (33%) or very (51%) concerned that political leaders would “use illegal or violent means to gain or retain power” in the coming year.

When asked whether they were concerned about leaders they support “being violently attacked for their political beliefs or affiliations” next year, 52% said somewhat and 33% said very much.

In all three cases, Democrats expressed greater concern about these potential consequences, while large majorities of Republicans and independents said they felt similarly.

Fewer Vermonters said they feared they or someone they knew would be “violently attacked” because of their political beliefs or affiliations. Just over a third said they were somewhat (26%) or very (12%) concerned, while most said they were not very concerned (40%) or not at all concerned (21%).

Despite their general fears about the democratic process, most Vermonters said this week they believed their votes would be counted accurately.

Two-thirds of respondents said they were somewhat confident (21%) or very confident (66%) that their votes would be counted, while only 10% said they were not very confident and 4% were not at all confident. Republicans expressed more concern on that question: About a third said they were not very confident or not at all confident that their votes would be counted.