Poll from progressive group finds bipartisan support for voting rights bill

Roughly a third of Republicans support bill when told about provisions

A poll from the progressive group Data For Progress shows widespread support for a set of voting rights reforms being pushed by Democrats in Congress, suggesting that the issue could be an area where the party could achieve another much-needed public image win before the midterms.

In data released by the group on Wednesday, roughly 35 per cent of likely GOP voters and and even 50 per cent of independent voters say they support the For The People Act when told about the legislation’s anti-gerrymandering and anti-dark money provisions. The legislation is also supported by eight in ten Democrats.

Individual pieces of the bill are even more popular, according to the poll. Exactly half, 50 per cent, of Republican respondents said they supported the aspects of the bill aimed at reforming the issue of redistricting, in which state governments often usually controlled by partisan politicians redraw state district lines in ways that frequently benefit their own party or cement the power structure of specific politicians. Even higher numbers of Democrats and independents support that provision.

The poll was conducted between July 30 to Aug 2, and included responses from 1,254 likely voters nationwide. The margin of error is three percentage points.

Despite the bill’s widespread support from his own party and increasing pressure from both civil rights experts and progressive lawmakers, President Joe Biden has been hesitant to make the bill a centerpiece of his legislative agenda.

The bill’s passage is likely tied to the fate of the filibuster, a Senate rule that allows the minority party to block legislation unless it meets a 60-vote threshold. Mr Biden, a supporter of the filibuster rule, has publicly resisted calls to openly advocate for it to be changed or ended in order to see voting rights legislation passed, even as more and more state parties sound the alarm about GOP-led efforts to restrict voting rights across the country in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

“Over the past few months, countless Americans have demanded passage of the For The People Act. They contacted their representatives, wrote letters, rallied, and physically put their bodies on the line to save our democracy. It's now time for President Biden to match their commitment,” said Adam Eichen, executive director of Equal Citizens, a nonprofit election reforms group founded by Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig.

“This means using every channel of influence at his disposal – both public and private – to convince reticent senators to reform the filibuster and pass the For The People Act. Anything less would be a failure of leadership and an affront to our democracy. If he waits much longer, it may be too late,” he added.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has suggested that new voting rights legislation may be less urgent than activists claim, pointing to Mr Biden’s victory in Georgia during the last election cycle. That assertion has largely been panned by his critics, who say the White House is excusing inaction.

Despite their public claims of support for voting rights legislation, The New York Times reported last week that White House officials have privately suggested to activists that it is possible to “out-organize voter suppression” in multiple conversations with local leaders and organizers.

In a statement to The Independent, the elections reform group End Citizens United disagreed with those remarks and asserted that Democrats needed to act before a GOP-led gerrymandering effort began ahead of the 2022 midterms, while expressing hope for a compromise bill on the issue that would have the support of key centrist Democratic swing vote Sens Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

“We are facing the most intense attack on the freedom to vote – and even the freedom to have your vote counted – since Jim Crow. We need to pass this bill quickly to allow states the time to implement the voter protections before the 2022 elections,” said a spokesperson, Adam Bozzi.

“We cannot ‘out organize’ these attacks,” he continued. “[A]nd the Supreme Court’s recent anti-voting rights decisions have made it clear that the only option we have to fight back is by passing this legislation. We cannot do that without the President’s leadership. We expect the compromise Senator Manchin is finalizing with Senators Warnock, Klobuchar, Merkley and others to address these issues and have full support of the Democratic caucus. The only thing standing in the way is the filibuster.”