When is it More Difficult for the Public to Support Voter ID Laws?

• In Event: Voter Attitudes and Participation

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Studies examining public opinion on voter ID laws have focused on how the laws affect self-reported turnout, their relationships to race, party ID, and other group identities, and the beliefs undergirding support. Generally, there is high support for voter ID laws, however, we argue that strong support exist because having and using identification is intuitive; on the surface, there is nothing controversial about credentialing as a requirement. Yet, we suspect that internal and external information pressures that disrupt the non-threatening intuition of having IDs will reduce support by calling attention to aspects of voter ID policies which are not apparent. We analyze two experiments that reveal increased opposition to voter ID laws due to significant effects of non-partisan facts, and increased mandates. The experiments reveal that external pressures (e.g., public opinion reports of low support for voter ID) reduce support among Democrats but not Republicans; but internal pressures (e.g., the financial costs of having to obtain a new ID for voting) reduce support among Republicans, but not Democrats. Given recent controversies over voter ID laws, and efforts to control malfeasance, the results have implications for elite communication, political behavior, and the 2020 presidential election.

Authors

• John V. Kane, New York University

• David C. Wilson, University of Delaware