Trump voters accept Biden victory 'with reservations'

Robert Reed says he will always believe 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump. retired police officer-turned-construction worker believes fraud marred vote, matter how many courts rejected that claim. Still, a day after Electoral College me Joe Biden's win official, ardent Trump supporter from suburbs of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was rey to move on.

“I think it’s pretty much over,” Reed said of Trump’s ongoing quest to overturn results of election. ”I trust Electoral College.”

For weeks, Trump has been on a mission to convince his loyal base that his victory was stolen and contest rigged. With help from conservative media, polls show he's h considerable success. But w that Electoral College has formalized Biden's win and Republican officials, including Senate Leer Mitch McConnell, are finally ackwledging him as president-elect, many Trump voters across country seem to be doing same.

Interviews with voters, along with fresh surveys of Republicans, suggest ir unfounded doubts about integrity of vote remain. But re is far less consensus on what should be done about it and wher to carry that resentment forward.

For some, like Reed, Electoral College vote was clear end of a process. Ors have vowed to continue to protest with demonstrations like one that turned violent in Washington, D.C., over weekend. And some said y hoped GOP leers would press for more investigations to put doubts Trump sowed to rest.

y are people like Scott ams, a retiree and Trump voter living in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, who said he accepts Biden’s victory — but “with reservations.”

ams said he's heard too much discussion about irregularities in vote count on Fox News and conservative talk rio to trust election's outcome and doesn’t feel he’ll ever kws true margin of victory. (Biden won Election College by a vote of 306 to 232.)

But ams doesn’t think election was rigged eugh to change outcome, even if he believes it was “rigged eugh that it should be questioned more.” He'd like to see more investigations.

Republicans across country — from local officials to goverrs to Attorney General William Barr — have said repeatedly re is evidence mass voter fraud affected outcome. Trump and his allies brought a flurry of lawsuits, but nearly all have been dismissed by judges. Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-minated justices, denied requests to hear a pair of cases aimed at invalidating outcome of election in key battleground states.

Still, coming to terms with this pile of evidence has been difficult for many Trump voters. y expressed disbelief that Trump could have lost, given huge crowds he drew to his rallies. Some said ir suspicions were heightened by mainstream media's reluctance to air Trump's baseless claims. And y repeatedly pointed to slower-than-usual vote count as evidence something h gone awry.

“Something's t right here,” said Reed, who lives in East Lampeter Township.

explanation is well kwn — in many states, an influx of mail-in ballots, overwhelmingly cast by Democrats, were tallied later than ballots cast in person. Still, Reed said he thought courts should have spent more time investigating.

“I’ll always believe that it was stolen from him. I’ll really never be able to have peace of mind that it wasn’t,” he said.

Ors were less willing to go along.

“I don’t trust that result. I think that election was a fraud. I think election was stolen. I don’t kw how anybody could t think that. All you have to do is look at results,” said Karine Negrete, 55, a teacher living in Peoria, Arizona.

Negrete is among those who holds out hope that Trump can win if Supreme Court intervenes (re is indication that will happen) or Congress chooses to accept an “alternative slate” of Trump electors from several states. Election experts have said that scheme has legal pathway and Republican Senate leers have discourd it.

Still, Negrete said, “hopefully Congress will do right thing" and she expressed frustration with dwindling options.

“I don’t kw what we can do about that. If we don’t have courts that stand up for us,” she said. "If we don’t have an attorney general that will stand up and say, ‘This was wrong and we need to investigate it.’ What are we supposed to do? Do we need to fight bror against bror? It’s crazy.”

Biden has vowed to bring Americans toger and work across aisle. His success on both fronts may depend on how many Republicans hold on to ir election grievances. A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month found that 38% of registered voters, including 77% of Republicans, said y believe re was widespre fraud in presidential election.

And a recent Fox News poll found 36% of voters, including 77% of Trump voters, believe election was stolen from Trump. However, same poll also found that about 8 in 10 voters overall, and about half of Trump voters, said y will at least give Biden a chance as president.

Matt Vereline, 52, a member of pro-Trump group “Long Island Loud Majority” is t in mood for reconciliation.

Vereline, who lives in Bohemia, New York, is convinced “re was a lot more voter fraud than we kw about,” though he's t sure wher it changed outcome. But that won't keep him from rallying around what he thinks was an injustice. After all, that's what Democrats did to Trump, he says.

“Did y t cry for four years about Russian collusion, which wasn’t proven? So w I’m going to to cry about voter fraud for four years," he said. “y didn’t accept it. Why should I accept Biden? I kw I can't do thing about it. I kw a rally is t going to change course of who gets elected president. It’s whatever will be will be. But if my friends want to get toger and complain about it in a peaceful way and voice our opinions, I’m going."

Ors believe Biden won fair and square. Steve Volkman, a Republican who works in construction in Mesa, Arizona, said he me peace with Trump’s loss weeks ago.

“I voted for Trump, but people gotta get over it,” Volkman said, while leaning against his pickup truck. “For sure, he (Biden) won majority vote — landslide. To me, it’s alrey over.”

Carine Templeton, a South Carolina Republican who served in former Gov. Nikki Haley’s ministration, said that, despite level of support for Trump in red states like her own, she felt sure voters would be willing to accept Biden as president.

“Obviously, South Carolina supports President Trump, but I think you’ll see when Republicans don’t get ir way, y move on,” said Templeton, who lives in Charleston. “It’s time to move on.”

It remains to be seen, for w, how lingering concerns over integrity of vote will affect turut in future elections. Both parties have been focused on Georgia, where a pair of ruff elections will determine which party controls U.S. Senate.

Denise ams, 50, said she has her doubts about “questionable activity” in general election. But she turned out to vote early on Monday in Kennesaw, a suburb rthwest of Atlanta.

“I don’t want to lose our freedoms,” she said, repeating misleing GOP claims that Democrats would usher in “socialism.” “We’re losing our rights and freedoms in our country.”

“I’ve never h a problem before w trusting it, but w I feel like re may be something going on that I don’t trust,” echoed Melissa McJunkin, 40, who remains concerned about integrity of her vote after hearing stories of voter fraud in general election, but turned out anyway.

“I think it’s important for what’s going to happen next,” she said.