Senate

Majority of voters in poll support making it harder for politicians to override election results

by Olafimihan Oshin - 09/28/22 10:42 AM ET

Voting booths. — iStock.
Voter booths await the anticipated record turnout in the 2022 midterm elections, as enthusiasm runs high among both Democrats and Republicans, with a close battle for control of Congress.

A majority of Americans in a new poll support the idea of making it harder for politicians to override general election results.

The Politico-Morning Consult poll published Wednesday found that 52 percent of respondents said it should be harder for lawmakers to override presidential election results, while 26 percent opposed the idea.

Similarly, 53 percent of surveyed voters said it should be harder for state governments to override presidential election results, while a smaller 17 percent voiced opposition to the idea of barring state governments from overriding results.

Support for making it harder for Congress to override election results was higher among Democratic respondents, at 66 percent, while 45 percent of independents and 42 percent of Republicans also backed the idea.

Slightly more independents — 50 percent — said they supported the idea of making it harder for state governments to override election results, though support among Republicans and Democrats for changes at the state level was comparable to the federal level.

The poll comes after the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday advanced proposed legislation that would make adjustments to the 1887 Electoral Count Act, clarifying that a sitting vice president doesn’t have the power to unilaterally overturn a presidential election and raising the threshold for lawmakers to object the Electoral College vote.

The proposed legislation gained support from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday.

The bill was unveiled in a bipartisan effort by lawmakers in a response to the Jan 6., 2021, attack at the Capitol, where a mob of supporters of former President Trump breached the Capitol building in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory.

Many pro-Trump supporters in the mob pushed for then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election in certain states in order to hand Trump the victory, but Pence, who was pressured by some Trump allies, said it was not in his authority to do so.

The Politico-Morning Consult survey was conducted Sept. 23-25 with a total of 2,005 respondents. The poll’s margin of error was 2 percentage points.