Conservative Principles for Building Trust in Elections

What It Is: A set of conservative-specific principles for building election trust, developed by Johns Hopkins' SNF Agora Institute and the R Street Institute through a year of off-the-record convenings with Republican elected officials, election administrators, and scholars across four states, released alongside original Gallup-Johns Hopkins polling on conservative confidence in U.S. elections. 

Why It Matters: The polling behind the initiative is stark: only 40% of Republicans say they're very or somewhat confident in the accuracy of U.S. elections, down from nearly 90% in 2006 — and among conservatives who believe Trump won in 2020, just 57% say it's important to accept election results when their side loses, versus roughly 80% of other groups. 

How to Use It: The initiative distills to three actions for conservative leaders: publicly affirm election security without casting doubt on other jurisdictions' results; use transparency and direct public outreach to reassure voters; and champion concrete policy changes that build trust in the system. Read the full statement of principles for language and specifics to adapt.