A large majority of New Jersey residents support voter ID requirements, Rutgers-Eagleton poll finds
More than four in five polled New Jerseyans said they support or strongly support an identification requirement that mandates voters prove eligibility.
Voter identification measures, including restrictive measures requiring proof of citizenship, enjoy broad support in the Garden State, a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll found.
More than four in five New Jerseyans, 82%, said they support or strongly support a voter ID requirement that mandates voters prove eligibility by presenting a driver’s license or state ID when voting in person, while 71% said they back more severe requirements to mandate voters prove citizenship by providing a birth certificate or passport when registering to vote.
The poll results come as Republicans in the New Jersey Legislature have renewed their push to pass voter ID legislation amid revelations from Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration that thousands of people who told the state Motor Vehicle Commission they were noncitizens were registered to vote anyway, and about 340 of them cast ballots.
Sherrill (D) has said she has no issue with voter ID requirements, but the GOP measures have not advanced in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
Despite broad support for voter ID, majorities of voters expressed confidence in the security of New Jersey elections, the Eagleton poll says.
Nearly three-fourths of New Jersey adults, 74%, said they were somewhat or very confident about the accuracy of in-person and early vote counts. A little under three in five, 59%, said the same about mail voting.
Still, despite similar levels of support, the poll’s respondents were more likely to strongly support voter ID measures than they were to express strong confidence in voting results’ accuracy.
“Majorities would both support these hypothetical voting requirements and are confident about how November’s election will be run, but the intensity behind those two views is not the same,” said Ashley Koning, director of Rutgers’ Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.
Majorities expressed strong support for both voter ID requirements generally (63%) and a proof of citizenship requirement (51%), while only a plurality of voters (40%) said they were very confident in-person results would be accurate. Even fewer (29%) were confident mail votes would be counted accurately.
The parties were split when asked whether they believed only eligible voters would cast ballots in New Jersey.
Democrats overwhelmingly said they were very (59%) or somewhat confident (28%) that only the eligible would vote, while Republicans were more likely than not to doubt voter eligibility. Just 12% said they were very confident only eligible New Jerseyans would vote, compared to 28% who said they weren’t confident at all.
“Republicans are the most emphatic about tightening the rules and the least sure the system is working as it stands,” Koning said. “Ninety-five percent strongly support an identification requirement, and 12% are very confident that only eligible voters will cast ballots. Those two numbers are telling the same story from opposite ends.”
This story originally appeared on New Jersey Monitor.
