Majority of Republican voters in US say Hillary Clinton victory means rigged vote: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Residents cast ballots for the November 8 election at an early voting site on October 18, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by AFP)

The majority of Republican voters in the United States think if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton becomes president, it would be due to illegal voting or vote rigging, a new poll shows.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, only half of Republicans would accept Clinton as their president and nearly 70 percent of them said a Clinton victory would be because of vote rigging.

On the contrary, 70 percent of Democratic voters said they would accept a victory by Republican nominee Donald Trump and less than 50 percent would attribute it to illegal voting or vote rigging, the poll showed.

The poll shows a broad concern across the political spectrum about voter suppression, the actual vote count and ineligible voters casting ballots.

However, the Republicans feel that concern more. Eight out of ten Republicans are concerned about the accuracy of the final vote count, while about six out of ten Democrats are concerned about the vote count.

Sixty percent of respondents, regardless of political party, said they are worried about issues such as voter intimidation and suppression.

The level of concern and mistrust in the system, especially among Republicans, is unprecedented, said Lonna Atkeson, a professor at the University of New Mexico and head of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections, and Democracy.

“I’ve never seen an election like this. Not in my lifetime. Certainly not in modern history.” The difference, she said, is Trump. “It has to be the candidate effect.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign rally on October 21, 2016 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by AFP)

The findings come after repeated statements by Trump that the media and the political establishment have rigged the election against him and he may not accept the election outcome if Clinton wins.

Trump’s claim that the presidential election is being rigged and his suggestion that he may not accept the result of the election if he loses has challenged a centerpiece of US democracy and outraged many Democrats and Republicans.

During a campaign rally on Friday in Cleveland, Ohio, Clinton called the New York businessman's refusal unprecedented. "Now make no mistake: by doing that, he is threatening our democracy.”