Majority of Americans support major components in new sweeping voting rights legislation, poll shows

A majority of Americans in a new poll have expressed support for major components of sweeping reforms making their way through Congress with the goal of expanding voting rights and access to the electoral process.

Among the most popular proposals put forth by House Democrats in recent months included automatic voter registration, which 60 per cent of Americans supported in the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published on Friday.

Nearly half (52 percent) of all Americans also supported “no-excuse” voting by mail, a reform which allows states to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters. 

However, while the survey showed what the Associated Press described as “solid” support among the majority of Americans for the voting rights measures, there appeared to be stark divisions between Democrats and Republicans when it came to several of they key components featured in recent House bills. 

For example, while 78 percent of Democrats favored “no excuse” voting by mail, just 26 per cent of Republicans supported the reform, while nearly six in 10 Republicans opposed such measures. 

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There was one striking exception: Nearly three-quarters of all Americans — including majorities of both parties — said they support laws requiring voters to present photo identification, even as the Democratic proposal would ease those laws.

The sizable number of Americans who expressed no opinion on many of the measures suggests both parties have some room to try to sway public opinion as they ramp up efforts to pressure the Senate to act on the bill.

The 2020 presidential election was dominated by coronavirus pandemic-related voting changes and a flood of misinformation and false claims of voter fraud.

There was no widespread election fraud, and those claims were rejected by Republican and Democratic election officials in state after state, by US cybersecurity officials and by courts up to the Supreme Court. 

Still, now there is a collective sense of urgency to change how elections are run. But each side is taking a dramatically different path, with state Republicans looking to tighten rules and Democrats in Congress seeking national voting standards.

The two approaches reflect a partisan disagreement over the problem that needs solving. The AP-NORC poll shows a significant split over whether voter suppression or voter fraud is the more pressing concern.

While 62 percent of Democrats say people who are eligible not being allowed to vote is a major problem, just 30 percent of Republicans do. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report