News / Politics / News

Over half Republicans think Trump won US popular vote: Poll

Monday, 19 December 2016 12:14 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 19 December 2016 1:42 AM ]

Supporters cheer as US President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak in Mobile, Alabama, on December 17, 2016. (Photos by AFP)

More than half of the US Republican voters wrongly believe their candidate, Donald Trump, won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election, a new poll shows.

According to the Qualtrics poll, whose results were released Sunday, 52 percent of the Republicans are misunderstood about the fact that their candidate managed to win the Electoral College vote.

Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, secured the popular vote with a sizable lead of 2.8 million votes, tantamount to 2.1 percent of the total vote.

Uneducated Republicans are even more misunderstood with a larger 60 percent harboring the misconception, compared to 37 percent of them with a college degree.

Seven percent of Democrats and 24 percent of independents also think the New York billionaire won the popular vote.

The poll was released one day before the 538 members of the Electoral College were to meet in their state capitols to seal the president-elect’s victory.

There have not been any reports of widespread defections among the Republican electors, except one lawmaker from the state of Texas.

The “Hamilton Electors,” who are pushing for a revolt, need to flip 36 more Republicans to be able to push the vote to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, a measure that could just delay Trump’s grip over the White House.