Sixty-eight percent of registered voters think the coronavirus outbreak will have a big impact on election turnout in the U.S., a new poll shows — and nearly 4 in 10 support delaying the November presidential election until the pandemic is under control.
The findings are from a TargetSmart survey conducted April 8 through April 11.
Democrats are more likely to think the outbreak will have a big impact (80 percent) than independents (66 percent) or Republicans (58 percent). Still, majorities across party lines think the outbreak will have a big impact on voting.
The survey also found that 39 percent support delaying the November general election until the spread of the coronavirus is under control.
Sixty-three percent of registered voters are concerned about the outbreak’s preventing voting in this year’s elections, including 39 percent who say they are very concerned.
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A number of primaries over the last month have been postponed because of the virus.
Forty-six percent of voters say they are worried about the possibility that they or someone in their immediate family could become infected while voting where they usually cast their ballots.
An overwhelming majority (78 percent) also said it’s important for their state and local governments to provide alternatives to in-person voting, including 46 percent who said it’s very important.
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Most Democrats (91 percent) think it’s important to provide alternatives to in-person voting. Sizable majorities of independents (77 percent) and Republicans (66 percent) also think it’s important.
The survey also asked about some proposals around voting and elections to deal with the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, and most registered voters support many alternatives to in-person Election Day voting.
Seventy-three percent of registered voters said they would support expanding access to vote-by-mail, and 80 percent said they would support expanding early voting.
President Donald Trump has argued that mail-in voting would encourage fraud and boost Democrats.
Majorities of Democrats (90 percent), independents (71 percent) and Republicans (57 percent) said they support expanding access to vote-by-mail, indicating some bipartisan support among registered voters to expand access to voting in the U.S.
Similarly, 88 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents and 74 percent of Republicans said they support expanding access to early voting.
The TargetSmart survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted April 8-11, 2020. Six hundred respondents were interviewed over the telephone (62 percent cellphone, 38 percent landline) and 600 were interviewed online, via the Dynata online panel. The credibility interval (the theoretical margin of error for a blended-methodology poll) is +/-2.8 percentage points.