NBC Wonders: Are the Only Americans Opposed to Voter ID on Capitol Hill?

Good question. And a surprising source for it, to boot. Did Paramount buy Comcast when we weren’t looking?

Poll after poll has shown for years that the vast majority of American voters want requirements to show identification at the polling booth. That support crosses every major demographic, including political affiliations, and has for decades. As requirements for identification apply to more and more activities in public life, including for New York City’s snow shoveling in Zohran Mamdani’s socialist gulag, the arguments against voter-ID requirements become more and more inexplicable.

Even NBC News has begun to wonder whether the only organized opposition to it is on Capitol Hill:

It’s a policy long opposed by Democrats in Congress, who liken it to nefarious Jim Crow-era laws aimed at preventing African Americans from voting.

But that message is increasingly falling flat with the American public, including Black voters, as photo IDs are increasingly required for common activities, like flying.

A Pew Research Center poll in August tested a variety of election rules and found that 83% of U.S. adults support “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote,” while 16% oppose it. That’s up from 77% support in a 2012 Pew poll.

Support now includes 71% of self-identified Democrats, 83% of independents and 76% of Black voters.

Interestingly, NBC News didn’t poll the question itself for fresher data. The SAVE Act is relatively new in the public consciousness, which means any partisan controversy over it might have eroded those numbers since August. That’s not likely to have made a significant impact – voter-ID has been broadly popular for decades now – but at least a fresh poll could have mitigated the numbers a bit. NBC routinely runs polls, so it’s not as if the resource isn’t available to them, either. Using these dramatic Pew numbers is a deliberate choice, and in this case, a curious one. 

NBC certainly picked a good time for its piqued interest, though. John Thune will bring the SAVE Act to the Senate floor as early as today to kick off the effort to force its passage. Democrats plan to filibuster it using the same demagogic arguments that voters have overwhelmingly rejected, but Thune may have other plans up his sleeve at this point:

The bill will be brought as a “message from the House,” a procedure that requires a simple majority vote to begin debate — but leaves the 60-vote threshold in place for its final passage, a source familiar with the process told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Lawmakers will likely discuss the legislation and introduce amendments for several days as Republicans seek to put Democrats on the record over multiple policy issues beyond just strengthening voter identification requirements.

“We’re going to use the amendment process to put Democrats on the record—not just on election security, but several issues of great importance to millions of Americans as outlined by President Trump,” Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee told the DCNF.

Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt has worked closely with the White House and Lee to prepare a substitute amendment to replace the bill’s current form with a strengthened version that includes Trump’s additional asks, the senator shared in a video posted to X Monday. These include curbing mail-in voting except for military, illness and disability, removing men from women’s sports and ending transgender surgeries on minors. The amendment will also include the legislation’s original voter ID policies.

The point of this first round would be to suss out whether the Senate Republicans can even muster a majority for passage. Lisa Murkowski is already a no, and retiring Senator Thom Tillis opposes the procedural strategy Thune is employing to open debate. No one is clear on Mitch McConnell’s position, either. Thune can lose three from his caucus as long as Vice President J.D. Vance is available to break a tie. (Senate Democrat John Fetterman has already declared his opposition to the SAVE Act, although he says he would support a stand-alone voter-ID requirement.)

If Thune can get to 50 plus Vance on the SAVE Act, then he might look at options for bypassing the filibuster. If he can’t, then there’s no point in opening that can of worms. This initial process will at least make that point clear before Thune burns down the legislative filibuster, only to get nothing out of it in the end. 

The other option is to stage a talkathon – not a talking filibuster, as Mike Lee suggested, an option that has procedural traps for the majority. Rather, Thune wants an extended debate that forces Democrats to keep publicly declaring opposition to an overwhelmingly popular policy:

Trump, backed by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, has pushed for a talking filibuster, which would force Democrats to talk for days or weeks to delay passage of the bill. But Thune and the larger GOP conference rejected that idea, arguing that it would end in failure after giving Democrats a stage and the opportunity to offer endless amendments, potentially adding their priorities to the bill.

Republicans are instead taking over the floor with their own speeches, proceeding under regular order but operating outside the normal time limits that are customary when debating legislation. Democrats are expected to answer with their own procedural hijinks, potentially forcing Republicans to come to the floor at all hours for votes, meaning they will need to stay close to the Senate for the duration.

Lee said last week that it’s unclear how it will all play out. He said he thinks Trump “understands that we need to put in an aggressive effort here.”

“And a lot of that,” he said, “is going to have to be determined in real time as we go about it.”

The GOP wants to pound Democrats over their insistence on defending yet another extreme position on yet another 80/20 issue. That makes NBC’s sudden interest in the popularity of voter-ID so … curious. And perhaps a sign that an extended, aggressive effort here may do some real damage to Chuck Schumer’s caucus.

The latest episode of The Ed Morrissey Show podcast is now up! Today’s show features:

•  Can anyone in the White House press corps ask an intelligent question? Andrew Malcolm and I trade Andy Rooney impressions while discussing the impatience of the American media and the public it supposedly serves. 
• The Protection Racket Media has covered the first seventeen days of a war as though we’re sixteen days overdue for V-I Day. 
• Plus, we talk about why this is all Abraham Lincoln’s fault, based on our own memories of his Gettysburg Address.  

The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at  Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page!

Editor’s Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.

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