Most Americans Worry There Will Not be a Peaceful Transition of Power

Most Americans Worry There Will Not be a Peaceful Transition of Power
If former Vice President Joe Biden is elected the 46th President of the United States, most Americans express concern that there will not be a peaceful transition of power. More than three in four Americans (77%) are somewhat or very worried that there will not be a peaceful transition of power after the election. This includes nine in ten Democrats (91%), compared to nearly two-thirds of Republicans (64%). USA Today points out that while no American president has refused to concede his post, there is no law that says he must. “Without a concession, usually hidden parts of the election process — such as the inner-workings of the Electoral College — could be ripped open and used to decide the election in an unprecedented way. It would mean a race could be headed for a result decided by the courts or by obscure parts of the law,” Joel Shannon writes.
Despite Fears, Election Has Been Mostly Violence-Free
Prior to the 2020 presidential election, PRRI data showed that more than eight in ten Americans (86%) were somewhat or very worried that there would be widespread violent protests in cities across the country following the election. In the immediate aftermath of the in-person vote, while ballots are still being counted in several states, that has yet to occur. Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law told reporters this week that there had not been many incidents. “Fortunately this hasn’t been a systematic or widespread issue,” she said. “We certainly were prepared for this being a bigger problem than it proved to be today.”
What Does it Mean to Have a ‘Latino Vote?’
In a new piece for America Magazine, J.D. Long-García examines what pundits and analysts mean when they refer to a “Latino vote.” Long-García reminds readers that Latin Americans have a wide range of political beliefs and do not vote in lockstep with one another. According to Long-García some of the Latin American voters he spoke with said they supported President Donald Trump due to his stance on abortion rights. “A 2019 study by the Public Religion Research Institute found Latinos were the only major race or ethnicity where a near-majority of respondents (and a majority of those with a religious affiliation) believed abortion should be illegal in all or most cases,” he writes.
Join Robert P. Jones for a 2020 Election Recap
On Thursday November 5, join PRRI CEO and founder Robert P. Jones for a panel discussion sponsored by Fordham University. Jones will discuss the aftermath of the election and what it says about white Christian populism with Eddie S. Glaude Jr., chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and president of the American Academy of Religion, and Kristina Stoeckl, a professor of sociology at the University of Innsbruck. You can read more about white Christianity in Jones’ latest book, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.”