The United States has been rigging elections for nearly 200 years in order to keep anti-establishment candidates away from the White House, says Stephen Lendman, an American writer, journalist and political commentator.

According to a new poll released on Monday, 41 percent of American voters are now saying the 2016 presidential election could be "stolen" from Republican nominee Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud.

And 73 percent of Republican voters think the election could be stolen from the billionaire businessman, while 17 percent of Democrats agree with the prospect of rigging.

Over the last week, Trump has intensified his criticism of the American electoral system. He called the election process rigged, and said the media is colluding with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in order to beat him.

Lendman told Press TV on Monday that voter fraud in America is not a new phenomenon. “It’s a phenomenon that goes back to the early days of the Republic, and I have written a number of times in my articles.”

“I remember an article where I cited elections going back to around 1820 in America – my God almost 200 years ago! – when an election was rigged to ensure that one candidate got into office as president, and the other candidate was defeated,” he added.

The analyst said elections at all levels are rigged in the United States. “In my own city of Chicago the election was rigged to install the current mayor, and then rigged again to see that he was re-elected. So it goes on all levels of government in America.”

“No other country I am aware of meddles in the internal affairs of America in its elections or anything else, and all the claims that America is making about Russia meddling in America’s elections and wanted to influence Trump win over Clinton, all that is a bunch of rubbish. There’s no evidence proving it,” the commentator said.

“Trump is right saying elections are rigged,” he emphasized.

Lendman stated that if Clinton wins and Trump loses in November, elections are absolutely rigged “because he sounds like an anti-establishment candidate.”

However, he said, “Nobody becomes a billionaire by being anti-establishment. He’s very much part of the establishment, but he’s a little independent-minded based on the things he talks about.”

The US media has launched an offensive against Trump in recent days, running reports of several women claiming the billionaire businessman has groped and forcibly kissed them.

Trump has called the allegations “slander and libel” and part of a “concerted, coordinated and vicious attack” launched by Clinton and the news media to destroy his campaign.