CNN's Sara Sidner was astonished by new polling that shows a deepening mistrust for President Donald Trump's commitment to democracy.
The 79-year-old president proposed that Republicans nationalize and take over elections in at least 15 states, just days after the FBI and his spy chief Tulsi Gabbard raided a Georgia election facility seeking evidence of 2020 election fraud that has been repeatedly debunked, and data analyst Harry Enten told "CNN News Central" that voters don't trust his intentions.
"They trust him about asmuch as they trust him to bemodest," Enten said. "I mean, just take a lookat these numbers right here. Ithink this gives the game away.Trump committed to free and fairelections, this is among alladults. What you see is just 43 percentof Americans actually do believethat Donald Trump is committedto free and fair elections. Theclear majority, 56 percent, say no, no,no, no. They do not believe that Donald Trump is committed tofree and fair elections."
"Iwill note it is the opposite forthe Democratic Party, where yousee the majority of Americansbelieve the Democratic Party iscommitted to free and fairelections," he added, "but they donot trust Donald Trump when itcomes to his commitment to freeand fair elections."
Trump has claimed for years that fraud cost him the 2020 election to Joe Biden, although numerous courts and independent investigations have found otherwise, and he was indicted in federal court and in Georgia for his efforts to overturn that loss and remain in power.
"So you see thismajority right here who say that Donald Trump is not committed tofree and fair elections, andamong independents it is evenworse," Enten said. "Take a look here: This isa group that Donald Trump hasreally been struggling with, andwhen it comes to his commitmentto free and fair elections, theyabsolutely believe he is not.We're talking about two inthree independents say no, Donald Trump is not committed tofree and fair elections. We'retalking about just a third, justa third of independents believethat Donald Trump is committedto free and fair elections."
"Theywill view his current commentsvery negatively, and this, ofcourse, just builds upon theircontinuing distrust and theirdeepening distrust of Donald Trump when it comes to his jobfor the president overall, andspecifically to this questionwhen it comes to his commitmentto free and fair elections," Enten added.
Sidner was stunned by the poll's findings.
"If that number doesn't slapyou in the face, I don't knowwhat will," she said.