As if it weren’t enough that the GOP nominated Trump, a vulgarian who’s sadly uninformed about much of anything in the way of policy, it now seems they share his view of elections and democracy. Remember, during the third debate he said he might not accept the results of the election.

Trump’s low opinion of American elections has practically become Republican Party orthodoxy. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, Republicans have an “unprecedented” level of “concern and mistrust in the system.” Roughly 70 percent of Republican voters believe that if Hillary Clinton wins the election, it’ll be due to fraud.

What is driving this feeling among Republicans (not just the hoi polloi, either: many intellectuals and pundits, libertarians and religious conservatives have expressed these sentiments)? Maybe it’s just this:

Suspicion of the democratic system is so pervasive on the right because it’s driven by the fear that white Christian America is facing demographic doom. The evidence is right there in the election results: Republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, and if current polling trends hold, the GOP will be batting one for seven when the results come in on November 8.

Isn’t that just peachy? One of the two major political parties in this country has begun to give up on democracy altogether because too many non-male and non-white people are participating in it.

As Charlie Pierce is wont to say, “This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.”