Hello and welcome to the 538 Politics Podcast.

I'm Gaelin Drouk.

Today, we're going to talk about the state of our democracy based on a new survey out

this week from Brightline Watch, which is a group of political scientists that monitors

threats to our democratic systems.

The ways that President Trump challenged the legitimacy of the 2020 election were unprecedented.

For the election, he wouldn't commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost.

When he did lose, he claimed victory and pushed Republican lawmakers and elections officials

to overturn the legitimate results.

And of course, he encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol on January 6th, as Congress

was certifying the election.

Trump is now out of office, but his false message that American elections are fraudulent

has permeated much of the Republican Party, particularly at the state level, where candidates

are running on those ideas and lawmakers are passing laws that they say are designed

to prevent fraud.

This week, dozens of Texas House Democrats left the state to prevent the passage of new

voting laws in Texas.

Likewise, President Biden gave a voting rights speech on Tuesday, urging Congress to pass

the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Activists have called on Democrats in the Senate to end the filibuster in order to pass

those two bills.

This is where the debate over how elections function in America stands today.

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