Trump reverses stance, alleges fraud in recent US midterm elections

United States President Donald Trump has questioned the integrity of last week’s midterm elections, reversing course less than a week after congratulating Democrats on their victories and saying he was willing to accept the results.

“Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “How could the Polls be so wrong???”

While Republicans questioned whether polls were once again underestimating their support, as they had in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, the results ultimately went the other way.

Polls had largely pointed to a strong night for Democrats, with surveys suggesting the party was well positioned to take control of the House of Representatives and had a realistic chance of winning the Senate.

In fact, Pew Research released a report analysing pre-election polling data and found that the data understated the Democratic margin by at least 2 points in 23 of 27 races for governor and the US Senate.

Trump also alleged on Truth Social that some early voting ballot counts were so large that they made it impossible for Republicans to win. He provided no evidence of election fraud or wrongdoing. Over the past few days, the president has shared posts on Truth Social with graphs questioning voter turnout data.

The post marks Trump’s first explicit public challenge to the integrity of the overall midterm results since Democrats overwhelmingly won control of both chambers of Congress, in addition to a string of victories in traditionally Republican strongholds.

This latest remark comes a day after an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, in which Trump appeared to accept the election outcome. Asked about his decision to congratulate Democrats, Trump confirmed that he had done so and said he was open to working with the incoming Democratic majority.

Shortly after the Democratic Party’s victory was announced, Trump congratulated them on a call with CBS News and later told Fox News that the party “did a good job”.

He had also told The New York Times last week that he “absolutely” accepted the results of the election.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer responded to Trump’s latest remarks, saying the president’s “return to election denialism was inevitable”.

“He can whine all he wants, but nothing will stop this inescapable truth: For the last two years of his presidency, Trump will face the largest Democratic congressional majorities in decades, all because he has been an unprecedented failure,” Schumer wrote on X.

Republicans have increasingly sought to distance themselves from Trump following the party’s midterm losses. Even conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, who supported the president in 2024, responded on X to his election fraud claims with a blunt “Just stop.”