As Democrats and Republicans clash over voting rights, a new Monmouth University poll shows a vast majority of Americans support requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast a ballot.
SO WHAT
Republicans: GOP concerns about voter fraud in the 2020 election have prompted widespread calls for reform efforts, such as voter ID laws.
Democrats: Meanwhile, the GOP’s political opponents have characterized such initiatives as bigoted attempts to suppress voters and countered with legislation, like the For the People Act, meant to expand voting rights.
THE POLL
Here’s what Monmouth University’s survey of 810 U.S. adults unearthed:
- 80% of respondents said they support requiring Americans to show ID in order to vote.
- One-third of Americans said they believe Joe Biden won the presidency through voter fraud.
- 71% of the voting public says in-person early voting, a measure broadly endorsed by the Democratic Party and opposed by the GOP, should be made easier.
Flip-flop
While liberals and Democrats have in the past objected to voter ID laws, and in some cases claimed such laws are “racist,” Democratic politicians – including former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Georgia Rep. Raphael Warnock – have in recent days had what The Washington Post described as an “evolution on voter ID.”
Then: “Voters without a driver’s license or state ID must surrender their personal information and risk identify theft just to receive an absentee ballot,” Abrams said in April as part of her “Stop Jim Crow 2” campaign against electoral reforms. “And then there are the 200,000 Georgia voters who don’t have either ID and the punitive free ID that’s not free when you factor in the cost of transportation and the cost of an underlining document.”
Now: “No one has ever objected to having to prove who you are to vote. It’s been part of our nation’s history since the inception of voting,” Abrams said while appearing on CNN on Thursday.
