Pippa Norris for The Monkey Cage:

What do Americans think they would do if their presidential candidate does not win? The Reuters-IPSOS poll gave registered voters six hypothetical choices. Respondents were allowed to choose more than one option. The most popular choice was to take no action: Around half the Republicans and Democrats said they would act if their own candidate lost. That’s not surprising. Longstanding research shows that only a small sector of the electorate would get politically engaged about most issues.

Around three in 10 voters said they would support legal challenges pursued through the courts, as in Florida in 2000. Another 13 to 17 percent of voters said they would protest the results. As long as any demonstrations are peaceful, democracies would consider both of these appropriate responses to any alleged or actual problems at the polls.

Some voters responded that they would leave the country — but this seems more like a rhetorical gesture than a real threat.

Finally, a few people (3 percent of Republicans and 7 percent of Democrats) opted for the most extreme response: to take up arms to oppose the outcome. The number of respondents in this category is low, and it is a hypothetical response, so not too much should be made of the modest difference here by party.

That last result is very interesting.