Nothing is more sacred to American progressives as an Absolute Truth than the contention that the 2020 presidential election was totally fair.  Any dissent is labeled as "the Big Lie," and saying it was corrupt makes you "despicable" in the eyes of the Senate majority leader.  "Fact-checkers" in the agitprop media insist that there is no evidence of significant fraud, and the social media monopolists enforce discipline against those who dare question the Holy Writ.  (And don't you dare mention Stacey Abrams or Hillary Clinton questioning their election defeats.  That's different, and don't ask why.)

Belief that the election results were fraudulently obtained can even get you in trouble with the law:

Nearly every charging document filed by Joe Biden's Justice Department in the Capitol breach probe mentions the defendant's belief about the 2020 presidential election as evidence of wrongdoing. 

Actually auditing the ballots cast will get you investigated by Merrick Garland's Department of Justice and, maybe, sued or prosecuted.

With all that political, legal, and institutional might pushing the narrative of nothing to see here, move along, the results released yesterday by Rasmussen must come as a shock to progressives:

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters support forensic audits of election results to ensure there was no vote fraud. Twenty-nine percent (29%) oppose such audits and 17% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Of those who have an opinion (84% of the sample), almost two-thirds (65.5%) support forensic audits.

Those people questioning the integrity of the election may have an open mind, but:

The new survey also found that 41% of voters still don't believe that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fairly.

When over 40% of the public questions the results of a national election, it is vital to establish the truth of the matter via careful investigation.  If such a substantial portion of the public believes that the president illegitimately occupies the Oval Office, repression won't work well.  It risks political disintegration through passive resistance and maybe worse.

Sarah Hoyt makes the profound and inescapable point about all the attempts to stop, discredit, or otherwise stifle audits:

Honest people whose honesty is cast into question don't stomp their hooves and scream you're a meany and a danger to the republic for casting doubt on the elections.  The doubt is already there. What you do is offer to have a third party or even your opponents audit, because you have nothing to hide.  Running around calling those who question you insurgents and traitors is an admission of guilty [sic].

Just so.

They thought their old superpower — the ability to get the public to believe whatever the institutions controlled by the progs tell them to believe — was still working.  It isn't.  Donald Trump turns out to be the kryptonite that rendered them merely mortal.

Graphic credit: www.gotcredit.com via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 license.

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