but then that makes it very likely that some republicans who actually voted democrat just pretended to have voted republican in order to maintain their standing in their community.
who said that you should never trust a statistic you faked yourself?
It's not rude to assume a population percentage is lying to protect themselves. They SHOULD be lying to protect themselves. How many witches self identified in Salem? Do you not understand the point of votes being secret? Nobody wants to put a political target on their back.
'Decline to answer' is a valid option for those people and they don't get included in these polls.
You're making speculations as to why they voted the way they said they did, but that's unknowable. Your guess is just as good as mine, which is why it's rude to assume yours is the right guess.