More than half of all Republicans believe President Trump “rightfully won” the election but believe that it was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday.

At a “Stop the Steal” car rally with Trump supporters that began last Saturday on 4^thStreet North in St. Petersburg, all Republicans who Spectrum Bay News 9 spoke with believed that the president had been ripped off on Election Day. 

“We knew they were going to do this,” Sarasota resident Jason Caudill said. “It’s a lie. It’s a hoax. I think they’re stealing it,” he said of the Democrats, basing his opinion on the large rallies for Donald Trump versus Joe Biden’s intentionally smaller drive-in events during the last month of the campaign.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the Biden people stole the election,” Wesley Chapel resident Gloria Eber said.

Nakomis resident Gino Farfan says “anyone” could have manipulated the voting systems, including “a computer whiz.” 

“That’s why we need to investigate,” he said.

All cited reports of late arriving ballots and GOP observers being banned from observing the election process in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan as the source of their beliefs. 

Since Election Day, the Trump campaign and Republican voters have filed more than a dozen lawsuits to halt the certification of election results, according to CBS News. Most have been unsuccessful. Litigation could continue for another few weeks, as the deadline for states to settle any election disputes and determine its electors is December 8. The Electoral College members then are scheduled to meet in their respective states to cast their votes for president and vice-president on December 14.

Tampa resident Paul Lerch said he isn’t surprised that the Trump campaign has been losing in the lower courts because “they’re all run by Democratic hacks,” but he believes that success will ultimately come at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“Now I know that the Supreme Court doesn’t like making or setting precedent, but in this situation when the fraud is so obvious, they may just have to toss the results from some of these states and have no choice but to go the state legislatures,” he added.

Speaking with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham earlier this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis floated what has been depicted as a last ditch situation for the president: have the Republican-led legislatures in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan ignore the popular vote in their state that went for Joe Biden and instead cast their votes for Donald Trump.

“Under Article II of the Constitution, presidential electors are done by the legislatures and the schemes they create and the framework,” DeSantis said. “If there’s departure from that, if they’re not following the law, if they’re ignoring the law, then they can provide remedies as well. So I would exhaust every option to make sure we have a fair count.”

Caudill says that he’ll accept Joe Biden as the next president – but only if he’s satisfied that all of Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud have been exhausted.

“That’s what they should have done for Trump, and I’m sure that’s what all these Trump supporters will do for Biden,” he said, nodding towards the dozens of others who gathered on Saturday before getting on I-275. “When we know that there’s no hope left. But right now there’s still hope, (so) we’re not going to lay down.”

According to a Morning Consult survey released on Tuesday, a majority of rank and file GOP members don’t expect the results to be overturned. The poll showed that 47% say that result is unlikely to happen, while 41% maintained the results of the general election will be overturned.