The American electorate is deeply divided over its choice in this year’s presidential election, with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both stressing that the fate of American democracy is on the line.

No matter who wins, about half the country won’t get its way.

But just how upset will the losing side be? Will supporters of the defeated candidate accept the results? Or will they try to overturn them, as Trump and his allies attempted to do in 2020?

The Washington Post attended campaign rallies on subsequent days less than 40 miles apart in the battleground state of Michigan this month. We spoke to nearly 60 devoted fans of either Trump or Harris across both events. We asked each person questions about their worst-case scenario - a victory by the other side. While some of the answers were similar across the rival camps, the differences were illuminating.

How would you feel if your candidate lost?

The first question we asked every person was how they would feel if their candidate lost.

Harris voters were visibly shaken by the possibility of a Trump victory, repeatedly using a variation of the word “devastated” to describe their emotional state if she loses. Voters like Cinda Lark, 57, a yoga studio owner, said she would be not only devastated but also “horrified.”

“There are no words,” she said. “He can’t win.”

Trump voters said they would be disappointed but also seemed more resigned to a possible loss. Some, like Santiago Zarazua, 70, a former General Motors employee, shrugged when asked about a Trump defeat. “I’ll leave it in God’s hands,” he said.

Will you trust the results of the election?

Although Harris supporters said they couldn’t fathom a Trump victory, most also did not believe that an election in the United States would be stolen. They described a faith in America’s voting systems. One woman, Patrice Stiehl, 71, a retired social worker, said that she works at the polls on Election Day and that “there’s too many checks and balances” for anyone to steal an election.

By contrast, nearly all of the Trump supporters we spoke with were convinced that the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump and believe, as he has warned, that fraud and cheating could cost him the White House again. (There is no evidence of any significant fraud in the 2020 election or of cheating ahead of this one.) Kourtney Rademacher, 35, a caregiver, said it was “impossible” that the results were accurate in 2020.

She said she believes “they’re plotting to do the same stuff again.”

Do you think Trump or Harris should challenge the result?

Trump supporters largely thought he should challenge the results again if he loses. But many also said the system is so rigged against him that such an effort wouldn’t succeed.

His supporters notably did not express interest in a repeat of the heated rhetoric that led to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Some, like Arthur Garcia, 68, a retired computer technician, said Trump “can’t do anything about [a loss] because they [stole it] already once.”

Trump has already given so much to the country, he said, that if he loses he should retire and “enjoy his money, go on a beach and have a margarita.”

Harris supporters were unanimous in their belief that Trump would not accept the results if he loses. If Harris were to lose, they thought she would not challenge the outcome because, unlike Trump, she trusts and respects the nation’s elections. Patrick Daniels, 37, a law student, said he doesn’t think Harris should challenge the results and he doesn’t expect that she would. “We can’t move forward as a country if this is how every election is going to be,” he said.

What would you do if Trump or Harris lost?

Supporters of both Trump and Harris described a loss in next month’s presidential election as a threat to American democracy. But Harris voters expressed a deep, existential dread that the country’s future will be imperiled if Trump wins. While some said they would continue to try to stay involved at the local and state level, many others said they would want to leave the country. Many said it lightly, almost as a joke. But Carmalita Brewer, 67, who babysits and works at Target, said she’s “really scared.”

“His people are violent, very violent, and I’m terrified that it’s going to get worse,” she said.

Trump supporters said they worried about the country turning communist or being overrun by illegal immigrants if he lost. But they also seemed to have a less visceral reaction to the notion of his defeat. Several said they would pray for the country. But there was resignation to the idea that there was nothing they could do.

Angel Ramirez, 39, a store manager at a gas station, said she didn’t like the way Trump handled the aftermath of the last election.

“I don’t like the country fighting the way it has been,” she said. “It just sucks. It sucks.”