Many GOP voters worried poll workers could tamper with ballots: Survey

More than half of Republican voters in a new survey said they are worried poll workers could tamper with ballots during the 2024 election, now less than three weeks away.

The poll, released Friday by YouGov, found that 55 percent of likely Republican voters think it’s “very or somewhat likely” that election workers will try to tamper with ballots. Around 34 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats said the same. 

Overall, nearly 4 in 10 Americans said it is at least "somewhat likely' that ballots could be tampered with. Another 42 percent said it was "not very or not at all likely," while 20 percent said they were unsure, according to the survey.

Still, only 27 percent of the survey respondents said they thought attempts to tamper with ballots would be successful. Roughly 21 percent said the opposite and 36 percent were unsure, the data shows.

Most said they at least moderately trust election workers to handle free and fair elections, YouGov noted. Split by party, 80 percent of Democrats said they trust poll workers in the U.S., while only 47 percent of Republicans said the same, the poll found.

Republicans and Democrats alike were more likely to trust local poll workers over state or federal. About 83 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans said they have at least "moderate" confidence in them, according to the survey.

The data comes as early voting has begun in several states, including battleground North Carolina and Georgia. As of Friday evening, more than 1 million votes had already been cast in the Peach State. In the Tar Heel State, more than 350,000 ballots were cast on the first day of early voting.

Experts have suggested that the record numbers could give Democrats an advantage, including Vice President Harris. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ's national aggregate of polls shows Harris leading her GOP rival, former President Trump, by just over 2 points — 49.6 percent to 47.4 percent.

The YouGov poll was conducted Sept. 5-8 among 1,127 Americans. and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.