Four out of five Texas Republicans “believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” according to a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters. About a third of independents and a tenth of Democrats also believe the widespread election fraud storyline.

There wasn’t. No one disputing that election’s results has put forward credible evidence of widespread fraud in any state.

Unsurprisingly, given that level of belief in fraud, similar percentages of partisan respondents agreed that “it is necessary to pass stricter voting laws to protect election integrity” in Texas. Three quarters of Republicans, 44% of independents and 15% of Democrats said the need for stricter voting laws was “closer to [their] point of view.” Just 21% of Republicans said stricter laws were not necessary “because elections in Texas are already secure,” a position held by 53% of independents and 82% of Democrats.

Three quarters of Republicans do not believe Republican-backed election legislation “would make it harder for people of color to vote.” They are joined in that belief by 33% of Hispanic/Latino and 10% of Black respondents. More independents believe the legislation would make it harder for people of color to vote (47%) than not (36%).

The poll of 1,099 registered voters was in the field June 15-21 and has a ±3.0% margin of error for the full sample.

RRC: Comm. Christi Craddick (R) endorsed Comm. Wayne Christian (R) for re-election.

HD64: Rep. Lynn Stucky (R-Sanger) announced he would seek re-election.

HD68: Rep. David Spiller (R-Jacksboro) announced he would seek re-election.

HD75: Rep. Mary González (D-Clint) announced she would seek re-election.

Mesquite: Mayor Bruce Archer announced he would not seek re-election, reversing a May announcement that he would seek another term. He was elected in 2019.

©2021 Texas Election Source LLC