82% Say Voters Should Be Required to Show Photo ID

Thursday, August 19, 2010

An overwhelming majority of Likely Voters in the United States think all voters in the country should be required to present photo identification in order to vote in U.S. elections.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters finds that just 14% disagree and think the current identification system is sufficient. Just 4% are undecided on the issue.

This is a sentiment that spans demographics, as majorities in every demographic agree that photo identification should be required to vote.

While this is the highest level of support since polling on the question began in 2006, support has always remained very high for such a requirement.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on August 11-12, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The U.S. Justice Department has told a major Ohio county to print bilingual ballots for the November election or it will be sued by the government. But most voters believe that election ballots in this country should be printed only in English.

As of about a year ago, two-thirds of American adults nationwide (66%) say their vote really matters on Election Day.

With midterm elections less than three months away, nearly two-out-of-three voters (65%) remain at least somewhat angry at the current policies of the federal government in all areas, including 40% who are Very Angry.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters oppose the Justice Department’s decision to challenge Arizona’s new immigration law in court. Fifty-four percent (54%) think the Justice Department instead should take legal action against cities that provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Even more think the federal government should cut off funds to these “sanctuary cities.â€