Pew finds sharp decline in Republican support for making voting easy
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Demonstrators hold a sit-in inside the Capitol building in opposition to Georgia's voter restriction bill in March. Photo: Megan Varner/Getty Images
The share of Republicans who say "everything possible" should be done to make voting easy has declined since 2018, according to a Pew survey published this week.
Why it matters: State legislatures have introduced at least 361 voter restriction bills this year, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice. Voting rights advocates say many of the bills, if passed, will disproportionately affect voters of color, as well as those with disabilities.
- Last month, Georgia became the first battleground state to pass such a law in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
By the numbers:
On making voting easier:
- 59% of U.S. adults say everything possible should be done to make it easy for every citizen to vote, while 39% say citizens should have to prove they want to vote by registering ahead of time.
- 85% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents say everything possible should be done to make it easy for every citizen to vote, while 14% say citizens should have to prove they really want to vote by registering ahead of time.
- 28% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents say everything possible should be done to make it easy for all citizens to vote, while 71% say American citizens should prove they really want to vote by registering ahead of time.
- "While 84% of Black adults and 69% of Hispanic adults say everything possible should be done to make it easy to vote, only about half of white adults say the same," Pew wrote.
On election security:
- 61% of U.S. adults say it would not make elections less secure if election rules were changed to make it easier to register and vote.
- 82% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents say the same.
- 37% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents say the same.
Flashback: The most dramatic shift from 2018 was among Republicans, according to Pew.
- Before the 2018 mid-term elections, 48% of Republicans said everything possible should be done to make it easy to vote, while 51% said citizens should have to prove they really want to vote by registering ahead of time.
Methodology: Data are drawn from a panel survey conducted March 1 to March 7, 2021. A total of 12,055 panelists responded out of 13,545 who were sampled, for a response rate of 89%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 12,055 respondents is ±1.5 percentage points.
