POLITICS | Wed Oct 19, 2016 | 9:35am EDT

Trump's appeal for poll monitors draws tepid response from some supporters

By Ginger Gibson | SHERMANS DALE, PENN.

While Donald Trump often rails against a “rigged” election on Twitter and at rallies nationwide, he goes a few steps further in Pennsylvania, a state crucial to the Republican’s fading chances to win the White House.

Here, he has made direct appeals since August to recruit voters as poll monitors on Election Day and has pointed specifically at Philadelphia as a city beset by voter fraud.

Despite offering little evidence for any of his claims, his “rigged” election message is resonating with his followers in this traditional battleground state where Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has opened up a wide lead. But his calls for poll watchers on Nov. 8 is drawing a mix of confusion, concern and tepid support.

In some cases, Trump’s talk of fraud appears to have made some of his own followers more resigned to an election loss, even though independent studies show U.S. voting chicanery is exceptionally rare and certainly never on a national scale.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]