Donald Trump’s election policies, explained

Q: Is President Biden the legitimate winner of the 2020 election?

A: Trump has long said he does not believe Joe Biden is the legitimate winner of the 2020 election and waged attempts to overturn his defeat. In response to questions from The Post, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung referred to a May 2023 CNN town hall, in which Trump repeated his false claim of “a rigged election.” Trump faces federal and state criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty in federal court.

Q: Will you commit today to accepting the certified results of the 2024 election?

A: Trump has not committed to accepting the certified results of the 2024 election. On the campaign trail, he has been priming his supporters to believe this election could be “rigged” against him. Cheung referred The Post to the CNN town hall, at which Trump offered a conditional response, saying, “Yes, if I think it’s an honest election, absolutely, I would.” Trump’s refusal to accept the certified results of the upcoming election echo his refusals in 2016 and in 2020 to say he would accept certified election results.

Q: As president, would you pardon or consider pardoning people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol?

A: Trump has often championed the cause of people convicted or charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. At the same CNN town hall Trump said, “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control.” In September 2022 he told a radio host he would give convicted Jan. 6 rioters “full pardons with an apology to many.” Then, in a video released in December, Trump told viewers, “People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

Q: What is your stance on voting rights and ballot access?

A: Trump has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that there is rampant fraud in the U.S. election system. In September, he urged congressional Republicans to oppose an election security bill called the SAVE Act, even if it meant shutting down the government. That legislation would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote, despite the fact it is already illegal and rare for noncitizens to vote. Republicans have worked to restrict the rules around mail-in ballots. When he installed a new Republican National Committee chair, Trump made clear he wanted an increase focus on poll watchers and election-related lawsuits.

Q: Do you support changes to the Supreme Court?

A: Trump has said changes proposed by President Biden to the Supreme Court — including term limits for justices and an ethics code — is “going nowhere.”