WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Navigator Research released new polling showing strong support for voting rights legislation and for eliminating or bypassing the filibuster to pass it. The survey, conducted in the first weeks of January 2022 found 63 percent of Americans supports (and only 22 percent opposes) new voting rights legislation, which would “establish national standards to protect Americans’ freedom to vote, require every state to have automatic voter registration, make Election Day a holiday, restore federal voting rights to formerly incarcerated Americans, and address ‘dark money’ in the electoral process, by modernizing and expanding federal campaign finance reforms.”
“There is broad and growing support for action on voting rights, with Americans hearing more about both the Freedom to Vote Act and the impediments to its passage,” said Bryan Bennett, Director of Polling and Analytics at the Hub Project and Advisor to Navigator Research. “These results should embolden senators who are working towards the bill’s passage—and give pause to those who are reluctant to move on the filibuster.”
Moreover, a growing number of Americans say they understand the filibuster well, and by an 18-point margin support eliminating it (50 percent support – 32 percent oppose) when described as “a loophole that allows a small minority of U.S. senators to block legislation that a majority of senators support by requiring 60 votes instead of a simple majority.”
This comes as the Senate heads toward a vote on bypassing the filibuster to pass critical voting rights legislation early next week. Nearly half of independents (46 percent), and 56 percent of all Americans, said they would be more likely to support eliminating the filibuster if it meant passing “an economic plan that invests in the middle class and makes the wealthy pay their fair share,” and a majority of Americans would be more likely to support eliminating the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation like the Freedom to Vote Act (51 percent).
A variety of arguments in favor of the landmark voting rights bill were seen as convincing, with the most convincing being the argument that the law “would guarantee [the right to vote] for all eligible citizens and protect it from the whims of state politicians or of either political party” (77 percent convincing, including 69 percent of independents) and that “federal protection of voting rights would give everyone in the country the same kinds of opportunities to vote” (74 percent convincing, including 61 percent of independents).
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About Navigator Research
The Navigator Research project is designed to act as a consistent, flexible, responsive tool to inform policy debates. By conducting research and providing reliable guidance to inform allies, elected leaders, and the press, Navigator helps top leaders in Washington and grassroots leaders around the country shape the debate on the issues that matter most. Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
About the Study
Global Strategy Group conducted public opinion surveys among a sample of 1,000 registered voters from January 6-10, 2021. 101 additional interviews were conducted among Hispanic voters. 79 additional interviews were conducted among Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. 100 additional interviews were conducted among African American voters. 101 additional interviews were conducted among independent voters. The survey was conducted online, recruiting respondents from an opt-in online panel vendor. Respondents were verified against a voter file and special care was taken to ensure the demographic composition of our sample matched that of the national registered voter population across a variety of demographic variables. The margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 3.1 percent.
