One Year from Election Day 2020, This One Thing Will Boost Confidence in U.S. Elections
Exactly one year out from the historic 2020 presidential election, Americans are very concerned about whether the upcoming election will be open and fair with strong differences along party lines. But a recent Ipsos/C-SPAN survey shows a glimmer of bipartisan hope. While many election reform proposals run into stark partisan disagreement, sixty-four percent of Americans report that making Election Day a federal holiday would increase their confidence in the openness and fairness of American elections.
Majorities of Americans from both parties support the creation of an election day holiday. However, earlier this year, Congress, in a partisan vote, killed a measure that would have made Election Day a federal holiday. That move by Congress is not in line with American sentiment around this issue. While Republicans show less confidence in making Election Day a holiday, 56% of Republicans still agree that a national holiday would make them more confident in the electoral process. Between Democrats and Independents, that number stands at 68%.
There was a wider partisan spread on moving Election Day to the weekend. Only 38 percent of Republicans believe moving Election Day to the weekend would make U.S. elections more open, while Democratic and Independent support for this hovered around 60 percent. Additionally, there was about a 30-point divide in voter confidence between Republicans and Democrats regarding automatically registering citizens to vote and extending voting rights to felons after they serve their sentences.
Legislators and civil and voting rights groups previously tried to include measures that would make Election Day a federal holiday in several other bills. In 2005, Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed a measure that included that change. Before that, a 1998 law put forth by Republicans failed to make a holiday dubbed “Freedom and Democracy Day” into another day-off for Americans.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Vice President, US, Public Affairs
[email protected]
+12024202025
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