How Much Did Election Denial Hurt Republicans in the Midterms?

Denying the results of the 2020 election and casting doubts about the nation’s voting system cost statewide Republican candidates 2.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the midterms last year, according to a new study from States United Action, a nonpartisan group that promotes fair elections.

Why It Matters: Consequential races were close.

Even at the lowest end of the spectrum, 2.3 percentage points would have been enough to swing several critical midterm races that Republicans lost, including the contests for governor and attorney general in Arizona and the Senate elections in Nevada and Georgia.

In each of those races, the Republican nominee had either expressed doubts about the 2020 election or outright rejected its legitimacy.

And as former President Donald J. Trump illustrated at a town-hall event last week, election denialism is very much alive within the Republican Party.