Thursday, October 11, 2012

Majorities of Reps, Dems and Indies Favor Voter Photo ID Requirements

By Susan Duclos

Republicans have been passing voter ID laws and requirements and Democratic politicians all the way up to Obama's DOJ have been fighting against them, even in court, claiming that requiring photo ID's at the polls was "suppression", but even the majority of Democratic voters don't buy that and favor the voter photo ID requirements, according to Pew.

Proposals to require voters to show photo identification before being allowed to vote draw overwhelming support. By 77% to 20%, voters favor a requirement that those voting be required to show photo ID. Opinion about this is little changed from six years ago, when 80% of voters supported voter photo ID requirements.

Several states have enacted strict photo ID voting requirements, but there have been court challenges to many of these laws. Last week, a Pennsylvania judge blocked enforcement of that state’s voter ID law.

In a national survey of 1,263 registered voters, conducted Sept. 12-16 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, nearly all (98%) say they are confident that they have the identification they will need at the polls on Nov. 6.

There are partisan differences in views of photo ID requirements for voters, though majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents favor such requirements. Fully 95% of Republican voters say a photo ID should be required to vote, as do 83% of independents. By comparison, 61% of Democrats who say photo identification should be required; 34% say it should not. Liberal Democrats are about equally divided on this question (46% should be required, 48% should not).





Once again liberals and the Obama administration stake out a position that is the direct opposite of what the majority of Americans believe, including the majority of their party.