70% of Americans are not at all confident that Donald Trump will accept Republican losses in the 2026 election.

Posted by Deadline: White House, Oct 20, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictMixed

Sources: 1 contradict2 support4 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 70%

Deadline: White HouseOct 20, 2026

The 70% figure is accurate for Americans who are not confident (any degree) that Trump would accept Republican midterm losses, per the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. The claim's specific wording, 'not at all confident,' does not match the record, which puts that group at about half of Americans, not 70%.

A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What was said

… I mean, the public to Heilman's point, uhm the public is 28% are very or somewhat confident that Trump will accept his party's losses. 70% of all Americans, which includes a whole lot of people that voted for Donald Trump the first time, are not at all confident that Trump will accept, uh, Republican losses. There isn't a poll on the planet that predicts anything other than massive losses for the MAGA Republican Party. …

Deadline: White House · Oct 20, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Contradicts. The same poll reports that only about half of Americans are 'not at all' confident, a narrower category than the 70% 'not confident' total, so the claim's 'not at all confident' label attaches the wrong measure to the 70% figure.[1]

Supports. The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found 70% of respondents were not confident Trump would accept midterm results if Republicans lost, and 28% were confident.[1][2][3]

Context. Party breakdowns cited in the poll (94% of Democrats, 77% of independents, 36% of Republicans not confident) are consistent with the overall 70% figure and were published on 2026-10-20, before the 2026-10-20 claim date ends.[2][3][4]

Context. Several outlets (The Hill, Washington Post, USA Today, Reuters syndication, Yahoo) repeat the 70% 'not confident' figure without the 'not at all' qualifier, so most coverage supports the 70% number under the broader measure.[2][3][5][6][7]

Sources

7 sources: 4 not rated, 1 tier 1, 1 tier 2, 1 tier 3

1About 6 in 10 Americans are confident the election will be ...goodmorningamerica.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
2Donald Trump's acceptance of midterm election results doubted ...thehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports, context
3Would Trump accept GOP midterm losses? 7 in 10 Americans doubt it.washingtonpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
4Even Republicans have no confidence Trump will accept lossesrawstory.com · tier 3 · cited for: context
5Poll shows many Americans doubt Trump will accept GOP midterm lossesrmb.reuters.com · not rated · cited for: context
6Poll: Many Americans doubt Trump will accept GOP midterm lossesusatoday.com · not rated · cited for: context
7More than Two-Thirds of Americans Believe Trump Won't Accept ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context

Where this claim was made

Said in 1 published post

Deadline: White House · Oct 20, 2026Post →

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