- Mitch McConnell said Monday that American democracy is "very solid," NBC News reported.
- An NBC poll found a plurality of voters naming threats to democracy as their top concern.
- "I don't think of the things that we need to worry about, I wouldn't be worried about that one," he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says efforts spearheaded by President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election were "not good," but he believes American democracy is currently "very solid."
"I do think it's an important issue. There were those who were trying to prevent the orderly transfer of power for the first time in American history … and that was not good," McConnell said at an event in Georgetown, Kentucky, on Monday, NBC News reported.
McConnell was asked specifically about a new NBC News poll, released Sunday, that showed concerns about the state of American democracy surpassing the cost of living and the economy.
"I guess that's had some impact on the poll … But look, I think we have a very solid democracy," McConnell said. "I don't think of the things that we need to worry about, I wouldn't be worried about that one."
American democracy has been thrust into the spotlight by the series of public hearings held by the House committee investigating the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and the FBI searching Trump's residence in Florida, stemming from an investigation into his handling of sensitive government documents.
The NBC News poll, conducted between August 12-16, after the Mar-a-Lago raid, found 21% of respondents naming threats to democracy as the most important concern facing the country, followed by cost of living at 16%, jobs and the economy at 14%, and immigration at 13%.
In the survey, 57% of respondents also said the investigations into Trump need to continue while 40% said they should not continue because "they are politically motivated" and "divide the nation."
McConnell has, however, previously indicated general support for some reforms that would fortify American democracy against future attempts to overturn and subvert presidential elections.
A bipartisan Senate proposal released in July would modernize and clarify the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to prevent future Trump-style attempts to manipulate the counting of Electoral College votes and shore up the presidential transition process against election challenges.
McConnell, who served as Senate majority leader during the Trump administration, also predicted that Republicans have a "50-50" chance of winning back control of the upper chamber while speaking in Lexington in Monday.
"Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It's a 50-50 proposition," McConnell said. "We've got a 50-50 Senate right now. We've got a 50-50 nation. And I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close either way."
