- Polls reveal a partisan divide in which level of government Americans most trust to oversee elections.
- A plurality of Republicans nationwide most trust the federal government; Democrats favor local oversight for election administration.
- Utah Republicans and Democrats are most likely to put their faith in local governments.
SALT LAKE CITY — National election reforms were one of the top priorities for Democrats when they held a majority in Congress early in then-President Joe Biden's administration.
Although those changes never came to be, one former Utah County clerk recalls congressional leaders looking to Utah's election system to better understand potential changes. Josh Daniels, who oversaw the county's elections from 2021 to 2023, said he remembers a chorus of criticism from congressional Republicans at the time who decried national changes they said ran counter to the Constitution, which gives states primary authority over elections.
Now, as President Donald Trump has sought to limit mail-in voting and make other changes through executive order, Daniels said he hasn't heard the same critiques.
"My, how the tune seems to have changed when party control changes and there's a different set of concerns about elections," he said. "Some of the exact people in Congress have said the exact opposite things. It's a little bit staggering, and I think this is a problem with partisanship, but this is exactly why our federal system is great because there's a little bit of a firewall, if you will, against one-party control when you win an election."
The fact that partisans in Washington may hold different views depending on who controls the federal government isn't surprising. A new poll conducted by Y2 Analytics and the Sutherland Institute shows a partisan gap in which level of government is most trusted to administer elections, though Utah Republicans are less trusting of the federal government than their co-partisans throughout the rest of the U.S.
Y2 Analytics and the Sutherland Institute conducted both national and Utah polls about election administration in recent months, surveying 762 registered voters nationwide between May 1 and May 7 and 605 registered voters in Utah from May 5 to May 31.
Nationally, Republicans were much more likely to trust the federal government over state and local governments, 38%, compared with only 22% of Democrats. Forty percent of Democrats most trusted local governments, compared to only 26% of Republicans. A similar share of Democrats and Republicans said they most trusted the state government, 37% and 35%, respectively.
"Partisan affiliation and feeling are very important in influencing voters' views on who should be running elections, and it's really one of the main dividers of voters on this issue," Derek Monson, executive director of the Sutherland Institute, said while presenting the results of the poll ahead of a panel discussion about elections Tuesday.
He added, however, that "in some key instances, the partisan logic does not hold or doesn't really dominate voters' views, and that has important insights for policymakers as they seek to decide election policy at the federal and state levels."
Republicans tend to trust states and the federal government at a similar rate, Monson said, which one might not expect given GOP control in Washington.
Utah Republicans also appear somewhat distinct compared to their national counterparts in that nearly half say they most trust local governments and less than a quarter most trust the federal government. Democrats in Utah are more likely than Republicans to trust local and state governments, but members of both parties are less trustful of government the farther it is away from the people.
Daniels and two other experts spoke of declining trust in election systems in recent years, and all acknowledged the role that partisanship has in causing some to doubt the process or results.
"We know that the biggest indicator of whether someone is going to trust the election is whether their candidate won," said Matthew Weil, vice president of governance and bipartisanship at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "If your candidate wins, you trust the system works perfectly."
Weil also said as politics and the electoral process have become so focused on the national level, distrust of how other states administer their elections can creep in even if voters think their own vote is counted fairly.
Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie said he's concerned that debates over which level of government should control elections are becoming partisan attempts at wielding power. He said candidates on both sides have a duty to help repair trust.
"If you happen to be a losing candidate, you have the responsibility to stand up and defend the process," he said. "Now, if there is a true, factual thing that you are unfairly treated, of course, you have every right to seek that out. ... But if we happen to be on that losing side, we have to recognize that the process was still fair."
Daniels blamed media attention on outlier cases of election issues with fueling some of the distrust but said there's reason to hope. He said close to 90% of registered voters in Utah County cast ballots in 2020. And while a smaller share voted in the 2024, it was still more than 80%.
"If 90% of the community says we're going to cast a ballot, I think that's a pretty strong indicator that they do have faith and confidence in elections," he said. "They might have skeptical views. They might have doubts. They might not like the outcome of the election, but the fact that in our country they continue to participate, I think is the largest and most important indicator."
