A New York Times/Siena College poll published on Tuesday shows that 71 percent of all voters believe American democracy is at risk.

Over 60 percent of the over 700 respondents believe that the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, while 24 percent think the country is on the right track. 

Twenty-eight percent of all voters, including 41 percent of Republicans, say they have little to no faith in the accuracy of this year's midterm elections. 

The Republicans show deep mistrust of mail ballots, with 55 percent calling the practice a major danger to democracy. 

"I just don't believe in the people who tally it," a Republican from Sidney, Ohio, said of election officials, arguing that the 2020 election was rigged and that the Democrats would try to steal other offices this year. 

The majority of the voters in both parties identify the opposing party as a "major threat to democracy."

Most Republicans say the dangers include U.S. President Joe Biden, mainstream media, the federal government and voting by mail. Meanwhile, Democrats see former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court and the Electoral College as threats to democracy. 

Nearly one in five said political disagreements had hurt relationships with friends or family. 

"I do agree that the biggest threat is survival of our democracy, but it's the divisiveness that is creating this threat," said a Democrat from New Orleans. "It feels like on both sides, people aren't agreeing on facts anymore. We can't meet in the middle if we can't agree on simple facts. You're not going to be able to move forward and continue as a country if you can't agree on facts."

The poll of 792 registered voters nationwide was conducted by telephone using live operators from October 9 to 12.