US voters prioritize party loyalty over candidate controversies, poll shows
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that two-thirds of party-aligned American voters say they would vote for a candidate they dislike just to stop the other party from winning. The survey, completed June 8, was prompted by controversies surrounding Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner — who has a Nazi-linked tattoo and sent explicit texts while married — and Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who faces a decade-old fraud indictment. The findings underscore how deep partisan polarization is reshaping voter calculus, with candidate character increasingly subordinated to party loyalty.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,531 U.S. adults, completed June 8, reveals that only 17% of Democrats familiar with Graham Platner said his Nazi-style skull-and-crossbones tattoo would stop them from voting for him, and an identical 17% of Republicans said Ken Paxton's fraud indictment would deter their support. Two-thirds of party-aligned respondents overall said they sometimes must vote for a candidate they dislike simply to prevent the opposing party from gaining power, while 76% of all respondents — Democrats and Republicans in roughly equal measure — said they often vote for the lesser of two evils. Platner, a Maine oyster farmer seeking a Senate seat seen as pivotal to Democratic hopes of recapturing the chamber, has apologized for the tattoo — which he says he received while drinking with fellow Marines nearly two decades ago — and covered it with another tattoo in 2025 after launching his campaign; he has also apologized for sexually explicit texts sent while married, calling scrutiny of his past behavior politically motivated. Paxton, who secured his Texas primary win with a Trump endorsement, was previously impeached by the Texas House and had his wife file for divorce in 2025 on biblical grounds, but has consistently denied all wrongdoing. Independent voters may prove decisive in both races: six in ten unaffiliated respondents said their vote would more likely reflect support for the individual candidate rather than party affiliation, a dynamic political scientists say could favor the less controversy-laden contender. The poll carried a margin of error of 2 percentage points overall and 4 points for the subgroups familiar with each candidate.
What's missing
The poll measures national attitudes toward candidates in state-specific races, meaning respondents in most cases cannot actually vote in the elections in question; how this hypothetical framing may affect the reliability of the findings is not addressed.
How coverage differed
Both outlets reported the same core poll findings and candidate details with minimal divergence. The Independent framed the story around the broader 'lesser of two evils' mentality and included a quote from Senator Mark Warner drawing parallels to Trump's political rise more prominently, while The Straits Times used a 'party over purity' framing that emphasized structural partisan loyalty without foregrounding the Trump comparison as a central theme.
What different sources said
- The Straits TimesCenter
Party over purity: US voters unlikely to turn backs on troubled candidates, poll finds
- The IndependentLeft
Shock survey reveals voters will back scandal-hit candidates just to stop the other side from winning
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