USPS trust in mail-in ballot delivery drops 13 points in national poll

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that public confidence in the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to deliver mail‑in ballots on time has fallen 13 percentage points, from 71% in 2024 to 58% this year. The survey, conducted Sept. 14‑15 among 1,280 voters, has a margin of error of 3.8 points.

USPS reported that it delivered more than 233 million pieces of election mail this fiscal year through the end of August, with an on‑time score of 97.94%. The agency plans to keep delivering election mail as originally planned, including an “extraordinary measures” policy to speed up delivery of general‑election ballots beginning a week before Election Day.

The poll also revealed a partisan divide in voters’ views about mail‑in voting: 32% of Democratic voters are more likely than Republican voters (12%) and independent voters (26%) to vote by mail in this year’s general election. Republicans (70%) are more likely than Democrats (18%) and independents (32%) to say that there is a great deal or good amount of fraud when mail voting is available. Overall, 55% of voters say there is little or no fraud, and 75% feel confident that their state or local government will run a fair and accurate election for the midterms, up from 69% polled in March.

Read the full story at npr.org.