(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump has shown remarkable consistency over the years on a key issue in American politics: his lack of confidence in election results.

He questions results when he succeeds. He refuses to admit defeat. He has now reserved judgment on whether elections will be held this year They will be “honest”..

In each sentence, he answers a version of the same question: “Do you agree with the election results?”

“I will take care at the right time. I will not take care of anything now. I will take care at the right time,” he had said in the 2016 presidential election debate.

Trump was not the favorite to win the 2016 election, and in the months leading up to Election Day, he may have had something to do with laying the groundwork to overturn the results, when he complained that the system was “rigged.”

It contains The last 2016 presidential debate, then-Fox News and now CNN moderator Chris Wallace, pointed to the beginning of a quiet transition of power in America that brings the two parties together after an election. When Wallace asked Trump if he would stick to that policy, Trump replied: “I'll tell you what I say at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. OK?”

After his Electoral College victory and becoming president, he refused to claim that the election he won in 2016 was legitimate, without evidence that millions of people voted illegally, costing him the popular vote. A special commission he appointed as president to investigate his allegations of electoral irregularities found no irregularities.

“No. I have to see. I have to see. No, I'm not going to say 'yes.' I'm not going to say 'no,'” then-President Donald Trump said on Thursday. July 19, 2020, “Fox News Sunday.”

Again, Trump talks to Wallace While the host was on Fox. Trump also declined to say whether he would accept the election results.

The reason is, again, unsubstantiated allegations of illegal voting, but the specifics have changed. In 2020, Trump complained about postal voting instead of a fictional conspiracy where millions of people voted illegally. By the way, more No test Widespread fraud in postal voting.

In 2020, as everyone knows, he refused to accept his defeat and encouraged his supporters to protest the Electoral College vote count on January 6, 2021. A mob of them, many of whom were later prosecuted, laid siege to the capitol building.

“If all is fair, I will gladly accept the results. If not, we must fight for the rights of the country,” he said in a May 1 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Unlike 2016 or 2020, when he trailed Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively, Trump is currently ahead of Biden. Some polls. Citing changes to election laws by Republican lawmakers in key states, Trump said he now expects elections to be “fairer.”

But he's clearly not ready for a widespread vote of confidence in the electoral system, and Trump said if anything goes wrong in the 2024 election, he'll “let it be known.”

“If I were to say otherwise, I would be doing the country a disservice,” Trump said. “But no, I expect honest elections and we hope to win.”

As he likes to refer to his multiple criminal cases as “election interference,” it's safe to say the stage is set for his rejection of the upcoming election results.

Most Republicans lack confidence in American elections

As CNN's Marshall Cohen has documented, Trump's attacks on election integrity extend beyond the three races in which he ran. The attacks coincided with a sharp drop in the views of fellow Republicans on the US election.

In 2006, 92% of Republicans were very or somewhat confident that votes would be reported and counted accurately. Gallup poll. By comparison, 70% of independents and 66% of Democrats were equally confident in the accuracy of US elections.

In 2022, only 40% of Republicans said they were very or very confident that votes would be reported and counted accurately, compared to 85% of Democrats and 67% of independents.

It may be natural for supporters of a non-ruling party to have some reservations about the electoral system. But the decline in Republican confidence since 2018 is notable, from 77% confidence in the election's accuracy to 40% in 2022.

Democrats were also disappointed by the results

None of this is to say that Trump's rivals will happily accept Trump's victory. In 2019, years after losing to Trump, Clinton said she felt Trump was a “A corrupt president“Because of the tactics Republicans used to get votes in 2016, among other things.

But that doesn't change the fact that unlike Trump in 2020, he accepted his Electoral College victory in 2016.

“Last night I congratulated Donald Trump and look forward to working with him on behalf of our country. I hope he will be a successful president for all Americans,” Clinton said. His concession speech On November 9, 2016.

“Our constitutional democracy includes a peaceful transfer of power, which we respect but appreciate,” he said.

Hopefully Trump won't make such an offer if he loses in November. Instead, he is likely to allege again that there is a conspiracy to wrest the election from him, regardless of what the voters say.