The newest numbers from the liberal outfit Public Policy Polling finds Donald Trump ahead in Texas by a surprisingly close margin of just six points: Trump 44 percent, Clinton 38 percent, Johnson 6 percent, and Stein 2 percent. (Bonus: The new #NeverTrump candidate Evan McMullin got 0 percent.) But the poll also shows the potential for continued civil strife from angry GOP voters.
The poll asked the following question: “Would you support or oppose Texas seceding from the United States if Hillary Clinton is elected president?” The result is 40 percent for secession, outnumbered narrowly by 48 percent for the union. But among Trump voters, the figure is 61 percent in favor of secession, while only 29 percent oppose an act that would, if it escaped the realms of fantasy, instigate a new Civil War.
The poll also asked: “If Hillary Clinton is elected president do you think it will be because more people voted for her, or because the election results are rigged for her?” The result here is that 51 percent say Clinton would have won legitimately, against 39 percent who would say it was rigged—but among Trump supporters, only 19 percent would confer recognition upon the election result, versus a whopping 71 percent who say it would have been fixed.
As Jeet Heer wrote last week, Trump has simply ramped up the usual Republican line about (nonexistent) mass voter fraud, and the party’s refusal to recognize Democratic victories. The real question becomes what GOP leaders will do about it once this election is over.