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“ ‘I’m warning the markets now that I don’t think we’re going to have a clear result on Election Day 2022.’ ”
That line came from Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, communications consultant and political pundit, as he spoke on CNBC Friday about his forecasts for the midterm elections.
Luntz predicted the outcome from the midterms won’t be certain due to election deniers, while others have noted that Georgia’s rules on runoffs could be the reason why control of the Senate won’t be determined in November.
“There are enough election deniers out there — candidates running that are going to lose and going to claim that they won, and they won’t accept the election results. I am scared to death,” Luntz said.
“We are going to have a problem in this country, if Senate candidates, governor candidates, secretary of state candidates lose by 2% or 3% and claim the election is stolen.”
Pollster Frank Luntz takes part in the Milken Institute Global Conference in October 2021 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
AFP via Getty Images
Concerns about election deniers are persisting as former President Donald Trump continues to make false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Some Republicans have said they believe Trump, even though courts across the country ruled against him and 50 states certified Joe Biden’s win.
“The American people do not trust the election counting. They do not trust the system right now. It’s a greater degree of cynicism towards elections than we’ve ever had, and it’s being prompted by elected officials who are telling them, ‘Don’t believe the numbers. Don’t believe the count. It’s not true,’” Luntz said during his CNBC appearance.
He predicted that part of the problem will come from the fact that the vote “will look overwhelmingly Republican at midnight, and it won’t be as Republican when all the votes are counted,” because votes on Election Day are counted first, followed by ballots cast in early voting and then absentee ballots.
“It should have gone in order,” Luntz said of the counting for ballots.
He also forecast that Republicans will take control of the U.S. House, but Democrats will keep their grip on the Senate by a single seat.
Now read: If this seat flips red, Republicans will have ‘probably won a relatively comfortable House majority’
And see: Republican edge over Democrats in one key indicator rises to 4-month high
Plus: Meet the 10 biggest megadonors for the 2022 midterm elections
