As the results of the US midterm elections come into focus, one thing is already clear: many of the candidates who parroted Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him fared poorly.

Mr Trump’s false narrative that Joe Biden only beat him in 2020 through a shadowy nationwide voting conspiracy has been embraced by many Republicans, even though no evidence has surfaced to support the claims.

The former president endorsed hundreds of election-denying loyalists in the midterms, including some who were running for secretary of state, a position responsible for the administration of elections.

Republicans had predicted a “red wave” of support at Tuesday’s polls, leading Democratic observers including Mr Biden to be fearful that the very fabric of American democracy was about to come undone.

But the “red wave” was smaller than expected and, while some election deniers won or are ahead as counts continue, many failed.

Pollsters have credited this in large part to the high turnout among voters aged 30 or under, who are less likely to embrace Mr Trump's claims than older voters, particularly baby boomers.

“One could go down the ballots in each state and actually find candidates that Trump endorsed and then you could look at how those candidates fared vis-a-vis, say, other candidates in the state or the region,” said Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian and visiting professor at Occidental College.

“The pattern is already clear that those candidates fared worse relatively.”