A recent survey shows that most Pennsylvanians are in favor of voting and election regulations that promote maximum voter participation as the Keystone State is expected to play a critical role in the 2024 presidential election.
The most recent Franklin & Marshall College Poll published today indicates that 72% of registered voters think the regulations should encourage people to vote in order to ensure that everyone is represented. The poll also revealed that 25% feel that the regulations should only motivate interested and informed individuals to vote, so as to make better decisions in elections.
Furthermore, the statewide survey indicates that people are interested in seeing some changes in the rules.
The poll discovered that one of the most popular changes desired by registered voters is the requirement for identification to vote. 73% of respondents support this proposal, while 25% oppose it.
Respondents also expressed approval for a change introduced last fall by Gov. Josh Shapiro, which allowed the state to automatically register eligible Pennsylvanians to vote when they obtain or renew identification cards.
The survey found that 65% are in favor of automatic registration, while 32% oppose the move.
With regard to rules for those who vote by mail, the poll revealed that they would be in favor of granting election officials additional time to process mailed ballots and allowing county election officials to reach out to voters if they identify errors on mail ballots.
In Berks County, voters who submit mail ballots without a signature or an accurate date on the return envelope have an opportunity to have their votes counted if they receive a message through the state’s SURE database informing them of the issue. But workers in the election services office do not contact voters to alert them of the issue.
The poll found that a majority of respondents are in favor of allowing county election workers to contact voters to inform them of errors such as a missing signature or date so that voters can rectify the mistake. It indicates that 77% support the move, while 21% oppose it.
Respondents also showed support for amending the law that introduced widespread mail voting in order to provide election officials with more time to open the envelopes containing the ballots so that they are prepared to begin counting on election day.
Under current law, the envelopes containing mail ballots cannot be opened until 7 a.m. on election day. This is an issue that county commissioners and election directors statewide have requested lawmakers to address since the law was passed in 2019.
The poll found that 50% support changing the law to allow for more time to process mail ballots, while 42% oppose the proposal.
Hot topics
The poll also inquired about the sentiments of registered voters on a few pressing issues.
Only 2 in 5 registered voters express satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in the United States, although 9 in 10 believe that democracy is preferable to any other form of government.
A total of 93% indicated that they would opt to reside in a country with fair and competitive elections where their preferred party only governed roughly half the time, as opposed to living in a country with unfair and noncompetitive elections where their party governed continuously.
When asked if their party's candidate for president suggested undemocratic actions, 34% of people said they would vote for the other party's candidate instead. 30% were unsure, 24% said they wouldn't vote at all, and only 12% said they would still vote for their party's candidate.
The survey also inquired about abortion. It revealed that most registered voters agree with some access to abortion.
54% believe abortion should be legal in certain cases. Additionally, 35% support legalizing abortion in all cases, while only 10% think it should always be illegal.
The last topic covered in the poll was the legalization of recreational marijuana.
62% either definitely or probably believe the drug should be legalized for recreational use, with 39% in the definite category. Conversely, only 34% probably or definitely think it shouldn't be legalized.
Details on how the survey was conducted
The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll includes a detailed explanation of the survey methodology:
The survey data in this report were collected from interviews conducted between March 20 and March 31 at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College on behalf of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs.
The poll was created and carried out by the Center for Opinion Research staff. The data in this report represent the responses of 870 registered Pennsylvania voters, including 390 Democrats, 356 Republicans, and 124 independents.
The registered voter sample was obtained from Aristotle. All participants were informed by mail about the survey. Interviews were conducted over the phone and online based on each participant's preference.
Survey results were adjusted (age, gender, education, geography, and party registration) using an algorithm to mirror the known distribution of these characteristics among state voters. Estimates for age, geography, and party registration are based on active voters in the Pennsylvania Department of State's voter registration data.
The survey's margin of error is 4 percentage points when accounting for design effects from weighting.
