50% of Republicans would not accept if Clinton won the election

50% of Republicans surveyed said they do not recognize Hillary Clinton as US president.

Presidential candidates Donald Trump, Republican (left), and Hillary Clinton, Democratic. Photo: Reuters.

Only half of Republicans surveyed approved of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as president. If Clinton wins, 70% believe it will be due to illegal voting or manipulation, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on October 21.

In contrast, 7 in 10 Democrats surveyed said they would accept Republican Donald Trump's victory, with less than 50% believing he won because the election was rigged.

The survey was conducted online with 1,192 American adults from October 17 to 21. The results have a margin of error of 3.3%. The margins of error for Democrats and Republicans are 5.1% and 5.5%, respectively.

The poll comes after Trump repeatedly accused the media and the political establishment of rigging the election against him. He also encouraged his supporters to prevent illegal voters from voting on Election Day, November 8.

Clinton said she would accept the election results, while Trump said he would only accept them if he won. Eight in 10 Republicans expressed concerns about the accuracy of the vote count, compared to six in 10 Democrats.

"Republicans are more worried about everything than Democrats," Reuters quoted Lonna Atkeson, a professor at the University of New Mexico who heads the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy.

According to Atkeson, the level of concern and distrust in the electoral system, especially among Republicans, is at an all-time high.

"I've never seen an election like this. Certainly not in modern history," she said, adding that the difference was Trump. "It's the candidate effect."

She said that lack of trust is dangerous. Losing faith in government is one thing, losing faith in the electoral process is another. “Then the whole of American democracy will be questioned,” she said.