Poll: Americans split on changing filibuster rules to pass voting bill

While President Joe Biden has announced his support of changing filibuster rules to pass voting legislation, a new poll found Americans are split on the idea. According to the poll, conducted Jan. 8-9 by Morning Consult and Politico, 37% supported changing filibuster rules, while 36% didn’t.

Americans who responded to the poll were also spilt on whether voting reform should be a top priority for Congress to pass. Here’s how that broke down:

• 20% said reforming Congress’ role in counting Electoral College votes should be a top priority.
• 26% said expanding voting access in federal elections should be a top priority.
• 22% said expanding oversight of states’ changes to voting practices should be a top priority.
• 32% said none of the above should be a top priority.

According to the poll, the greater divide regarding filibuster rules came among political parties. 62% of Democrats supported changing the rules, while 57% of Republicans opposed the idea.

“Majorities of voters support Democratic proposals to expand access to early voting (65%), prohibit partisan gerrymandering (64%) or make Election Day a federal holiday (61%), all parts of the Freedom to Vote Act,” Morning Consult/Politico wrote in a story about the poll. “But the Freedom to Vote Act, in particular, faces united opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill and is also unpopular with the GOP base nationwide, with majorities opposing provisions to expand access to voting by mail (64%), automatic voter registration (56%) and same-day voter registration (53%).”

One area where there was consensus among Democrats and Republicans was regarding the Electoral Count Act. The law allows the vice president to reject state-certified results when Congress meets to count the votes. Multiple sources are reporting former Vice President Mike Pence had been asked to reject the results when Congress went to certify the 2020 election outcome on Jan. 6.  

According to the poll, 55% of Americans want to prevent that from happening. One thought is instead of addressing filibuster rules at first, Congress will focus on the Electoral Count Act.

“Consider how different the Senate would be without the filibuster,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Tuesday. “Whenever one party replaced the other as majority, tax and spending parties would change, safety net programs would change, national security policy could change, cultural issues would careen from one extreme to the other, creating uncertainty and unpredictability for families, for employers and for our friends abroad.”