Just over two dozen congressional Republicans definitively acknowledge a presidential victory for former Vice President Joe Biden (D), according to a Washington Post survey released Saturday.
The Post surveyed the 249 Republicans in both the House and Senate following President Trump releasing a 45-minute video to the American people on Wednesday, in which he vowed to continue to fight for election integrity.
The survey asked the lawmakers basic questions about the election and the results, but according to the Post, “more than 70 percent of Republican lawmakers did not acknowledge The Post’s questions as of Friday evening.”
The outlet first asked the lawmakers, “Who won the election?”
Only 26 members of the GOP definitively said Biden, while two chose Trump. The remaining 221 either indicated they were unsure or ignored the inquiry. The survey also asked, “Do you support or oppose Donald Trump’s continuing efforts to claim victory?”
Nine said they opposed, eight supported, and 232 did not provide a clear answer. Similarly, only 30 lawmakers indicated they will “accept” Biden as the “legitimately elected president of the United States” if he wins a majority in the Electoral College. Two said no, and, once again, the vast majority did not provide a clear answer, if one at all.
The Post concluded that GOP lawmakers are “largely hiding from answering questions about the election, neither congratulating Biden nor embracing Trump’s most strident positions and false claims” and labeled their refusal to answer a form of “complicit silence.” Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is among those who did not participate in the Post’s survey.
On Wednesday, President Trump released a lengthy video to social media, vowing to continue to fight for election integrity in the face of mounting suspicions and allegations of fraud and irregularities, some of which were detailed during this week’s Arizona election integrity hearing.
This week, the Trump campaign shared a surveillance video of alleged fraud with Georgia lawmakers, which “appeared to catch cases of ‘absentee and military’ ballots being pulled out from under a table to be counted in Fulton County, Georgia,” as Breitbart News detailed.
“As president, I have no higher duty than to defend the laws and the Constitution of the United States,” Trump said in Wednesday’s message to the American people. “That is why I am determined to protect our election system, which is now under coordinated assault and siege.”