For months, Democrats have tried to frame the 2024 presidential race as a fight to "save democracy," and it appears their message may be working---but not in the way they intended. A new Associated Press poll finds about 3 in 4 Americans do believe this year's election is "vital to the future of U.S. democracy." But the reason for that belief splits along party lines, with each party seeing the other as the threat to democracy. The remaining respondents are split between those who believe our democracy is strong enough to withstand whatever happens this election, and those who believe it is already so broken that the outcome doesn't matter.
Former President Donald Trump, cast as a threat to democracy by President Biden and Democrats, believes Democrats should not be casting stones after the way they suddenly replaced Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris. "I'm the opposite of a threat to democracy, they are a threat to democracy," Trump told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. "I mean, look at what they just did, they just took over the presidency (from Biden). This was a coup...they took the presidency away like he was a child."
Indeed, the AP survey finds most Republicans believe it is the Democrats who are the real threat to democracy, with their lawfare against political opponents, threats to end the filibuster, and proposed changes to the Supreme Court. Trump campaign surrogate Mike Davis echoed those feelings in a recent Fox Business interview. "Nothing screams 'democracy' like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris trying to bankrupt Trump, trying to throw him in prison for the rest of his life, and trying to throw him off the ballot," said Davis. "And now they're trying to destroy the Supreme Court of the United States."
"I think (Biden and Harris) should get their own house in order and look within, instead of at the Supreme Court."
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