Raleigh, N.C. – There continues to be overwhelming support among North Carolina voters for requiring photo identification to vote, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Eighty-three percent of voters said they favor a law that requires voters to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport, before being allowed to cast a vote in an election. Sixteen percent said they oppose such a law, and 1 percent said they have no opinion, according to the live caller poll of 600 registered voters.
Support for requiring photo identification to vote has never dropped below 83 percent throughout the history of Civitas polling. Furthermore, the idea garners bipartisan support as 96 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of unaffiliated voters say they favor a law requiring photo identification to vote. Democratic voters also support the idea by a 73 percent-26 percent margin.
“Voters have consistently supported requiring government-issued photo identification for voters,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “The new majority in the General Assembly will be encouraged by these results and voters’ strong backing for reform.”
Ninety-nine percent of North Carolina voters said they personally have a government issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, ID card from the DMV or a U.S. passport. Just one percent said they do not have a government photo ID.
Moreover, 77 percent of voters said they believe requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote would stop voter fraud. In comparison, 17 percent of voters said they believe it would prevent eligible voters from casting a vote. Two percent said it would have no effect or make no difference.
“Despite overused talking points of the far left, research shows an overwhelming majority of voters see photo ID’s as a common-sense approach to preventing voter fraud and the US Supreme Court agrees with them,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see www.nccivitas.org/media/poll-results/.
Full text of questions:
“Would you favor or oppose a law that requires voters to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport, before being allowed to cast a vote in an election?”
Strongly Favor – 72%
Somewhat Favor – 12%
Somewhat Oppose – 4%
Strongly Oppose – 12%
No Opinion – 1%
Total Favor – 83%*
Total Oppose – 16%
*Denotes rounding. Due to rounding, some figures may be higher or lower by less than one-half of one percent.
“Do you personally have an official photo ID, such as a driver’s license, an ID card from the DMV, a military ID or a U.S. passport?”
Yes – 99%
No – 1%
“Now, as you may know, North Carolina does not currently require a government-issued photo ID in order to vote. If in the future a government-issued voter ID is required to vote, do you believe it would be more likely to…”
Stop voter fraud – 77%
Prevent eligible voters from casting a vote – 17%
Have no effect/no difference – 2%
No Opinion – 3%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted December 15-16, 2010 by Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Virginia. This survey has a margin of error of +4.0% in 95 out of 100 cases. To ensure a representative sample, interviews were conducted proportional to voter registration figures for each county in the state based on the most recent figures compiled by the State Board of Elections.
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I’d like to know how and why having an ID would prevent legitimate people from voting as 17% believe?
It is about time the “people” spoke out for what is fair. The fact is that the Democrats know that they will be hurt in the polls if identification has to be used to vote…buy why shouldn’t it? What are “they” trying to hide?