Voter trust in the United States varies sharply by the part of the election being assessed. In August 2024, 61% of Americans were at least somewhat confident that the presidential election would be conducted fairly and accurately. By October, 92% of registered voters said their own community’s elections would be administered well, while confidence was lower for some specific questions, including mail-ballot counting and whether ineligible voters would be stopped.
Contents
- Overall confidence in the 2024 election
- Local election administration
- Ballot counting and eligibility safeguards
- Partisan differences in election trust
- Voting access and ease
- How Americans planned to vote
- Registration and the scale of the electorate
Overall confidence in the 2024 election
Pew Research Center reported on August 1, 2024, that 61% of Americans were very or somewhat confident the 2024 election would be conducted fairly and accurately. This is a broad national measure of trust in the election process, rather than a measure of whether respondents expected their preferred candidate to win.
The same survey found that 76% believed all citizens who wanted to vote that fall would be able to do so. That figure points to a distinction between two dimensions of voter trust: confidence in accurate administration and confidence that eligible citizens can participate.
Confidence differed substantially by party and age within party groups. Among Democrats, 77% were at least somewhat confident the election would be conducted fairly and accurately. Among Republicans, the comparable figure was 47%.
The partisan pattern reversed compared with April 2020. In that earlier measurement, 46% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans said the election would be conducted fairly and accurately. These are separate survey measurements taken in different election cycles; they should not be treated as a direct forecast of later results.
Among Democratic voters in August 2024, 66% of those ages 18 to 29 expressed at least some confidence in fair and accurate administration, compared with 87% of those ages 65 and older. Confidence also varied among Republicans by race and ethnicity: 45% of White Republicans, 62% of Black Republicans, 61% of Asian Republicans and 56% of Hispanic Republicans were confident the election would be conducted fairly and accurately.
Views about access also varied within party groups. Among Democrats, 77% of those ages 50 and older were confident that all citizens who wanted to vote would be able to do so, compared with 66% of Democrats under 50. Among Republicans, 65% of Black Republicans, 85% of White Republicans, 85% of Hispanic Republicans and 78% of Asian Republicans expressed that confidence.
Local election administration
The October 24, 2024, Pew Research Center survey shows that Americans generally trusted local election administration more than the broader national process. Ninety-two percent of registered voters said elections in their community would be administered well, including 50% who said very well.
Supporters of the two major presidential candidates assessed their local systems differently:
| Group | Administered well | Administered very well |
|---|---|---|
| All registered voters | 92% | 50% |
| Harris supporters | 97% | 63% |
| Trump supporters | 88% | 37% |
Local poll workers received similarly high, though not identical, ratings. Ninety percent of registered voters were confident that local poll workers would do a good job, and 48% were very confident. Among Harris supporters, 97% were confident and 62% were very confident. Among Trump supporters, 84% were confident and 36% were very confident.
State election officials attracted lower confidence than local poll workers overall. Eighty-one percent of voters had confidence in the officials who run elections in their state. The figure was 91% among Harris supporters and 72% among Trump supporters.
These results suggest that “voter trust” is not one single attitude. A respondent could have confidence in poll workers or local administrators while remaining less confident about statewide officials or the national election. The survey’s local-versus-state measures make that distinction visible without requiring an assumption about why the ratings differ.
Ballot counting and eligibility safeguards
Ballot-counting confidence depended on the type of ballot. In October 2024, 85% of registered voters were very or somewhat confident that in-person ballots would be counted as voters intended. That was below the 91% who had said in 2020 that in-person ballots would be counted as intended.
Trump supporters reported a larger change in the supplied measures. In 2024, 77% were confident that in-person votes would be counted accurately, including 24% who were very confident. In 2020, 92% had said in-person votes would be counted accurately, including 48% who were very confident.
Confidence was lower for absentee and mail-in ballots. Sixty-one percent of voters were confident those ballots would be counted accurately, including 25% who were very confident. The survey does not provide a single matching 2020 figure for this measure in the supplied results, so the two ballot types should not be combined into one trend.
Voters also placed high importance on eligibility safeguards. Ninety percent said stopping noncitizens from voting was very or somewhat important, while 89% said preventing people who were not legally qualified from voting was very or somewhat important.
Confidence that those safeguards would work varied by candidate support. Among Harris supporters, 87% were confident that people who were not legally qualified to vote would be prevented from doing so, including 52% who were very confident. Among Trump supporters, 35% were confident that noncitizens would be stopped from voting, and 30% were confident that people who were not legally qualified would be blocked from voting.
The wording of these measures matters. “Important” describes the priority voters assign to a safeguard, while “confident” describes whether they expect the safeguard to operate effectively. The percentages therefore describe related but different aspects of trust.
Partisan differences in election trust
The October figures show a consistent partisan gap in confidence about administration. Harris supporters were more likely than Trump supporters to say local elections would be administered well, to rate local administration very well, and to trust poll workers.
| Measure, October 2024 | Harris supporters | Trump supporters |
|---|---|---|
| Community elections administered well | 97% | 88% |
| Community elections administered very well | 63% | 37% |
| Confident local poll workers will do a good job | 97% | 84% |
| Very confident local poll workers will do a good job | 62% | 36% |
| Confident state election officials will do a good job | 91% | 72% |
| Confident in-person votes will be counted accurately | Not supplied | 77% |
The partisan gap also appears in expectations about learning the result. Ninety-two percent of voters said it was important that Americans know the presidential election result quickly. That was higher than the 82% who said the same in 2020. Among Harris supporters, 89% said a quick result was important, with 60% calling it very important and 29% somewhat important.
Confidence in receiving a timely result was more limited: 69% of Harris supporters and 59% of Trump supporters were at least somewhat confident Americans would know who won within a couple of days. Importance and confidence should be read separately: many people can want a quick result without believing it is certain to arrive quickly.
Voting access and ease
The October 24, 2024, survey found that 81% of registered voters expected voting in November to be easy for them. That included 43% who expected it to be very easy and 38% who expected it to be somewhat easy. Nineteen percent expected voting to be difficult, compared with 35% of voters who expected it to be difficult in 2020.
Expectations were similar by candidate support but not identical: 83% of Republican candidate supporters and 80% of Democratic candidate supporters expected voting to be easy.
Race and ethnicity groups differed in both overall ease and the intensity of that expectation:
- 84% of White voters said voting would be at least somewhat easy, including 47% who said very easy.
- 75% of Hispanic voters said voting would be at least somewhat easy, including 35% who said very easy.
- 70% of Black voters said voting would be at least somewhat easy, including 31% who said very easy.
- 82% of Asian voters said voting would be at least somewhat easy, including 29% who said very easy.
Age differences were visible in the “very easy” measure. Thirty-one percent of voters under 30 expected voting to be very easy, compared with 41% of voters ages 30 to 49 and 47% of voters ages 50 and older. Education also corresponded with different expectations: 48% of voters with at least a four-year college degree expected voting to be very easy, compared with 39% of those with some college or less education.
Ease is an access measure, not a direct measure of confidence that votes will be counted correctly. A voter may expect a convenient voting experience while holding a separate view about counting, eligibility checks or the timing of results.
How Americans planned to vote
Voting method was another important part of the October 2024 picture. Sixty-two percent of registered voters said they would or already had cast their ballot in person. This included 38% who planned to vote on Election Day and 24% who planned to vote early in person or already had.
Twenty-eight percent expected to cast an absentee or mail ballot or already had. Candidate supporters reported notably different plans:
- 74% of Trump supporters expected to vote in person, including 48% on Election Day and 26% early in person.
- 52% of Harris supporters expected to vote in person, including 29% on Election Day and 23% early in person.
- 39% of Harris supporters expected to vote absentee or by mail, compared with 17% of Trump supporters.
These figures describe intended or completed voting methods as measured in October 2024. They are not turnout estimates and do not establish how many people ultimately voted by each method.
The difference in voting methods helps explain why ballot-type trust matters. In the same survey, confidence in the accurate counting of in-person ballots was 85% among registered voters, while confidence in absentee and mail ballots was 61%. The figures refer to different questions about different ballot channels, so they should be compared as survey measures rather than added together.
Registration and the scale of the electorate
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission reported on June 30, 2025, that more than 211 million citizens were active registered voters for the 2024 general election. The commission said this equaled 86.6% of the citizen voting age population.
The same source reported that states had sent nearly 40 million confirmation notices as part of maintaining accurate voter rolls. A confirmation notice count is an administrative activity measure; it is not a count of removed registrations, rejected ballots or election fraud. Keeping those categories separate is important when interpreting election-administration statistics.
Together, the registration figures provide scale for the trust measures collected before the 2024 election. The Pew Research Center findings describe what Americans expected and believed at specific points in August and October 2024. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission figures describe registration and voter-roll administration reported on June 30, 2025. They are measurements from different dates and should not be treated as one simultaneous survey.