DISINFO: Joe Biden starts his mandate with the disapproval of half of the US citizens
SUMMARY
Joe Biden will be sworn as president of the US with a disapproval level of almost half of the population, counting those who voted for Donald Trump and the abstention. The country is very divided because over 50 per cent of Americans don’t believe that the elections were fair and free of fraud.
RESPONSE
This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign to discredit Joe Biden’s electoral victory, undermine the faith on the US electoral system and promote Donald Trump.
The claims are false. It can’t be said that those who abstained in the November election disapprove of Joe Biden because it is impossible to know what are the political preferences of those who didn’t vote. Polls released in mid-January 2021 showed that a majority of between 64 per cent and 67 per cent approved Biden’s performance since he won the election. According to a Morning Consult survey released on January 19, 65 per cent of voters say the election was free and fair, including 91 per cent of Democrats and 36 per cent of Republicans. This shows a general increase among Republicans since the previous month, though previous surveys also showed that overall figures of US citizens who considered the election fair and free were above 60 per cent.
See other examples in our database, such as claims that the US system is not democratic because the Deep State makes the big decisions; that the attack on the Capitol was a planned provocation; that the Democratic Party has become a fascist party; that there was electoral fraud in the US because the Deep State didn’t want Trump reelected; that the cybercracy, the Deep State and the Pentagon subdued Trump; or that the assault on the Capitol was the new 9/11.
This disinformation message appeared in the same article as the claims that “Censorship in the US is now almost akin to that of Nazi Germany”, that “If Trump is impeached, Democrats will have absolute power”, that “Images and videos prove that left-wing radicals took part in the assault of the US Capitol”, and that “US authorities refuted that the assault on the Capitol was a terrorist act”.