Readers Say

Readers say Mitt Romney has it wrong — Republicans do really believe the election was rigged

The Utah senator likened election fraud claims to World Wrestling Entertainment.

July 2, 2021

3 minutes to read

It’s been more than six months since Joe Biden took office as President, but in some Republican circles, questions still linger about whether the 2020 election was rigged.

A recent Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 56% of Republicans believe the unsubstantiated claim that Biden’s win was a result of massive voter fraud, and 53% believe that Trump is the actual president. This has become known as the “Big Lie,” and these days being a Republican elected official who rejects the claim doesn’t make you very popular. (At least among other Republicans.)

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who hasn’t always aligned with the Trump-supporting members of the Republican party, said recently that he doesn’t believe supporters of the “Big Lie” actually believe the claims they’ve made.

“There’s a growing recognition that this is a bit like [World Wrestling Entertainment],” Romney told Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union. “It’s entertaining, but it’s not real … I think people recognize that it’s a lot of show, and bombast. But it’s going nowhere.”

We asked Boston.com readers if they thought there was any truth to the former Mass. governor’s statements. Could it be that more than half of Republicans in the country are pretending to believe the election was rigged? Boston.com readers are skeptical that that’s the case.

Of the 218 people who responded to the survey, 54% said Romney was wrong and people promoting the “Big Lie” are clearly serious. Twenty-eight percent said they agreed with the senator, and another 19% said they themselves believe the election was rigged.

“Most politicians know that Trump didn’t really win,” Lou from Brockton said. “They are just using this stunt to rally the base. Unfortunately, most of the Republican voters actually do believe it.”

More than 50 people wrote in to tell us what they thought about Romney’s claims about the “Big Lie,” and we’ve selected some below. Read on to see how readers feel about Republican belief in election fraud claims.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

It’s true, they don’t really believe it

“Trump supporters need to fuel the nonsense and outrage because it gives them a sense of power. But even the most hopeless Republican voter knows the ‘rigged election’ claims are false. They just don’t care.” — Bruno, Danvers

“It’s ridiculous that time is being wasted on this foolish lie. Trump lost, so get over it!” — Dennis, Billerica

“Many Trumpians know better and they think it is funny. However, the real implications of perpetuating the Big Lie are seen when delusional people in our society march right into the Capitol and attempt a coup of our democracy. Those keeping this going should be booted from Congress. Jan 6th was the opportunity the GOP needed to cut ties with him forever but they choked. HE LOST! Get over it! Condolences. Your revolution is over.” — Chris, Milford

“There is mass hysteria in the USA among the voting population. I think that the Republican politicians (Trump’s minions) are responsible to their constituents to end this delusion and get to the business of uniting the country.” — Steve, Boylston

No, he’s wrong, most are clearly serious

“Maybe the majority of elected members of the GOP and right-wing pundits don’t actually believe it, but extensive polling in the months since the election has shown a significant portion of the GOP base still believe this lie. Party leaders, aside from a handful of outspoken members, have done virtually nothing to dispel this insanity and many have cheered it on. There are people who truly believe Trump is going to be ‘re-installed’ as POTUS in August. It’s too bad his cult members are too insane to feel shame because they’ve earned plenty of it.” — Chris, Boston

“It’s shameless and cowardly, and of a piece with Republican efforts to restrict voting rights.” — Alex, Arlington

“As a former Republican who refused to play the Trump lie game in 2016, I congratulate Mitt Romney for speaking out about the BIG LIE. However, until many more Republican leadership voices join Romney the BS will continue unabated. Trump has proven to be the biggest disaster that this country has endured since Andrew Johnson.” — Steve, Newmarket, NH

“It is very detrimental to our state of democracy. To those that believe, it fuels mistrust in our voting process and in our government and Congress. None of which is healthy for maintaining democracy. It is also pitting Americans against one another to a level of ‘anger’ and mistrust which extends even more glaringly in our Congressional representatives.” — John, Orlando

Boston.com occasionally interacts with readers by conducting informal polls and surveys. These results should be read as an unscientific gauge of readers’ opinion.