Almost 8 in 10 likely voters say individuals should be required to show some form of identification before being allowed to vote, a new poll finds.
Seventy-eight percent of American voters said they supported the requirement by some states to show proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, and only 19 percent opposed it, according to a
Rasmussen Reports poll taken March 20-21 of 1,000 likely voters.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
That number is up seven percentage points from where it was a year ago.
The survey comes about a week after a federal judge ruled that
Kansas and Arizona are allowed to require proof of citizenship from new voters when they register to vote instead of just a signature.
Six out of 10 respondents said laws that require voters to provide proof of citizenship do not discriminate, up three points from a year ago, while 29 percent said that the requirement does discriminate.
Those who support voters presenting valid forms of identification say the purpose of the requirement is to prevent voter fraud by keeping ineligible voters from voting, while those who oppose it say such requirements keep those who are eligible to vote from voting.
In the Rasmussen survey, 50 percent said they think it is more likely that those who are allowed to vote are actually not eligible, while 34 percent said they thought eligible voters were kept from the polls by such requirements.
Fifty-one percent said they thought it was the job of the federal government to set the rules for voter registration, while 38 percent said that such regulations should be left to the states to decide.