Public Opinion on Voter ID Laws and Voting Fraud

We examine levels of support for voter identification (ID) laws. Voter ID laws are highly politicized legislative acts originating at the state level. While some see them as necessary to prevent voting fraud, others argue that fraud is extremely rare and that voter ID laws can actually prevent eligible voters from participating in elections. Using a population based experiment embedded in a telephone survey of U.S. adults (n=906) we find strong levels of support for voter ID laws, but the support depends how the law is “framed.” The survey asked how much respondents favored or opposed voter ID laws using five different wordings: two suggesting support of the laws, two suggesting opposition to the laws, and one “unframed” version containing no arguments. An examination of the data finds that arguments in favor of voter ID laws do not produce greater support; nor does an anti-voter ID law argument based on the rarity of voter fraud. In contrast, the argument that such laws might deny legitimate voting rights reduced support for ID laws. The poll also found the public is divided on the prevalence of voting fraud and is ill-informed about voter ID laws. When asked whether their state requires them to show photo ID when voting, many respondents gave inaccurate answers (particularly among those who said “yes”). Our results highlight the politicized nature of voter ID laws and suggest that information asymmetry may underlie public support