Nevadans’ Attitudes About Elections
Nevada is a key state in the 2024 elections. To understand how people there feel about issues related to voting and election administration, the States United Democracy Center conducted a survey of about 1,000 adults in October 2024.
Among the major findings: Nevadans broadly trust their election system, believe in counting every legal vote, and reject election denial.
Even at a time of deep polarization and rampant election lies, the survey finds that people in Nevada—much like the country at large—generally trust the institutions of our democracy.
The results of this survey are consistent with our national polling:
- Nevadans hold many pro-democracy views.
- Election denial is an ineffective campaign strategy in Nevada.
- Most respondents are confident that they can find trustworthy information about Nevada elections.
2.1 Trust in state-level vote counting
Most Nevadans-about 75%-say that they have a fair amount or a great deal of trust that votes in their state will be counted accurately in the 2024 presidential election. Like most Americans, Nevadans trust elections in their state even more than they trust elections in the country as a whole.
2.2 Confidence in American elections
Despite the yearslong campaign to erode trust in elections, Nevadans express high levels of confidence in elections. About 42% say they are fairly or completely confident that American elections are free, fair, and secure. Only about 22% are not at all confident.
2.3 The importance of counting every vote
An overwhelming majority of Nevadans say it’s more important to count every legal vote in the presidential race than for their preferred candidate to win. Nearly three-quarters somewhat or strongly agree with that principle. There is broad agreement across party lines on this question.
2.4 Confidence in election information
Nevadans are confident they can find trustworthy information about elections in their state. About 55% say that they are fairly or completely confident that they can find this information.
2.5 When will the election be called?
About 68% of Nevadans say that they expect to know who won the presidential election in their state by the day after the election. By comparison, only about 18% think that it will take longer.
3.1 Belief that the 2020 election was rigged
Denial of the results of the 2020 Presidential election are pervasive in American politics, but despite this, a plurality of Nevadans strongly disagree that that 2020 was rigged against Donald Trump.
3.2 Support for election-denying candidates
As is the case across the nation, election denial does not appear to be a winning message in Nevada. Just over a third of Nevadans say that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who says that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. Only 14% say that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who makes that claim. The plurality say that this kind of statement would make no difference to them when deciding who to support.
This survey is based on 1,052 interviews conducted on the internet of Nevada adults. Participants were drawn from YouGov’s online panel and were interviewed between Oct. 11 and 30, 2024. Respondents were selected to be representative of American adults living in Nevada. Responses were additionally weighted to match population characteristics with respect to gender, age, race/ethnicity, education of registered voters, and U.S. Census region based on voter registration lists, the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error for this survey is approximately ± 3.5 percentage points, though it is larger for the analysis of partisan subgroups described above. This figure does not reflect non-sampling errors, including potential selection bias in panel participation or measurement error.
Note: In keeping with best research practices, we classify independent voters who reported “leaning” toward either the Democratic or Republican parties as partisans. Therefore, we define “independents” as those respondents who professed no partisan attachments whatsoever.