New study suggests Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories undermined GOP turnout in the 2021 Georgia runoffs

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence that voters in Georgia who embraced Donald Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud were less likely to cast their ballot in a pivotal runoff election. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump made a series of baseless allegations that the election had been stolen from him. These claims were quickly debunked by election experts, but Trump continued to push these conspiracy theories in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory. The study authors were interested in exploring...