POLL: Did Trump's lies about voter fraud hurt the GOP long term?

[satsuma]

I could see a variety of reactions to this going forwards. There's a core of the "MAGA crowd" as you call them who will only be convinced this election was legit if their leaders start changing their tune about it.

Of course, the penalty for casting doubt on elections is swift: they've just convinced some of their people that voting doesn't work. They're still on your side, but Republicans need to be more consistent going forward that "your vote matters and it will be counted fairly."

There's probably a good number of people who are Republican voters as a lesser evil, but don't follow the general subculture around conservative politics. There will be an problem with retaining these. They will be turned off by lies in general and could be convinced that Democrats are the lesser evil instead.

Conspiracy theory does endear Republicans to the less intellectual people who are generally suspicious of power and may not vote very often. If the GOP instead decides to play the part of a persecuted underground faction, they will probably fail to win much in the near future, and they could sound increasingly like Alex Jones in the process.