Public polling in support of reforming the ECA

Polling shows bipartisan support for critical updates to the Electoral Count Act:

  • October 7, 2022— An informed opinion poll conducted by CommonSense American found large bipartisan majorities supported key Electoral Count Act provisions. Large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents support clarifying the role of the Vice President, limiting grounds for objection, and raising the threshold for objecting to results.
  • September 29, 2022— An Economist/YouGov poll found “two-thirds of Americans (65%) support ensuring future peaceful transfers of presidential power.” This number included a majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. 
  • January 26, 2022—According to polling by CBS News/YouGov, “a large bipartisan majority of Americans feel the rule should, indeed, be that Congress must accept certified presidential electoral votes from the states.
  • January 12, 2022—A Politico/Morning Consult poll showed that “55% of voters say the Electoral Count Act should be changed to clarify that the vice president cannot reject state-certified results when Congress meets to count the votes.”

The CBS News/YouGov and Politico/Morning Consult poll results are consistent with earlier polling demonstrating bipartisan support for updating the ECA.  Read more in the Washington Examiner (Oct. 26, 2021).

  • Voters support updating the ECA by a 44-point margin (62% support/only 18% oppose) after receiving a brief description of the law. Majorities of voters across partisan, demographic, and geographic lines support updating the law.
    • Nearly two-thirds (63%) of voters say they would be more likely to support updating the ECA if the updated law was written and proposed by Democratic and Republican members of Congress. 
  • Voters strongly support limiting Congress’s ability to overrule state election results. By a 33-point margin, voters feel there should be only a narrow set of circumstances that allow Congress to reject certified state election results. Voters believe it should be difficult for Congress to “throw out” results (+29 difficult).
    • Most Americans are concerned about a party trying to overrule the results of an upcoming presidential election. A majority—58% of those polled—think it’s likely a party will try to overturn the presidential election results in an upcoming election. 

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