Poll: 40 percent believe US elections are not fair

Nearly 40 percent of voters do not believe elections in the United States are fair, according to a new poll published Monday.

An NPR/Marist poll found that 38 percent of Americans surveyed said that when it comes to U.S. elections, they trust “not very much” or “not at all” that they are fair.

There was a notable divide among nonwhite voters, women and Democrats, who expressed greater doubts in election fairness than white voters, men and Republicans.

{mosads}The poll found that 48 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of independents don’t trust that elections are fair, a stark contrast to the 9 percent of Republicans surveyed who hold the same view.

Additionally, 46 percent of nonwhite voters and 47 percent of women said they don’t trust the fairness of elections, compared to 33 percent of white voters and 30 percent of men.

On other election issues, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they think Russia is likely or very likely to use social media to spread false information ahead of the 2018 midterms, the poll found.

Concerns about Russia come as special counsel Robert Mueller’s team continues to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. Moscow used cyberattacks and disinformation to interfere in that election, according to the U.S. intelligence community.

The NPR/Marist poll results were based on surveys of 949 adults from Sept. 5-9. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.