The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 19, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

A Pew Research Center report released in late April finds that Americans are frustrated with their federal government, and say that elected officials don’t care about what “people like them” think.

U.S. adults were surveyed in 2023 as part of a poll conducted since 1994.  In the early 2000s, 55% agreed with the statement that “Elected officials don’t care about what people like me think.”  In the most recent survey, that figure is 85%.  

It’s not surprising then that 70% of Americans say ordinary people have too little influence over the decisions members of Congress make, and 73% say lobbyists and special interests have too much influence. Eighty percent see campaign donors as having too much influence. 

In response to how the political system in the U.S. is working, only 4% said “Extremely well.”  Twenty-three percent said “very well,” 45% “not too well”, and 

27% not well at all.  Fifty-nine percent said they were frustrated with the federal government; 21% said they were angry.

Democracy advocates point to ranked choice voting, single ballot open primaries, and small-donor public financing of campaigns as ways of refocusing the attention of elected officials on ordinary citizens.   

RCV and open primary initiatives are on the November ballot in Nevada, Colorado & Arizona.

We’ve linked the Pew survey at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Pew Research Center – More than 80% of Americans believe elected officials don’t care what people like them think
Pew Research Center – Money, power and the influence of ordinary people in American politics
Pew Research Center – Views of the U.S. political system, the federal government and federal-state relations
Groups Taking Action:
Open Primaries, Represent.Us, FairVote, American Promise, Issue One

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy #DemocracyNews #PewResearchCenter #EndBigMoney #OpenPrimaries #RCV

The post Pew Study Finds 85% of Americans Don’t Think Elected Officials Care About What ‘People Like Them’ Think – Up 30% since 2000 appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 13, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

A new study by Pew Research finds Americans broadly support such democracy reforms as making election day a holiday and two weeks of in person early voting, but also think voters must use government issued ID, and voting machines should have paper backup.

Pew surveyed over 5,100 American adults in January 2024 from a pool which reflects the demographics of the U.S. It found an increasing number of Americans, 72%, supported making election day a national holiday, and 76% supported two weeks of in-person early voting.  The public is split, however, on having a choice for mail-in voting, with 57% supporting and 41% opposing.  Among Republicans, support for mail-in voting dropped in four years from 49% to 28%, likely in response to former President Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims. 

While voting rights groups have tried to protect voting for the elderly, disabled and students, 81% of Americans support voting only with government-issued ID.  Support for election day registration and automatic voter registration through the DMV, declined slightly since 2021, but is down 10% among Republicans.

Pew also found notable differences among younger adults and communities of color, who are more likely to support early voting, mail-in voting, and automatic and election day registration. 

We have a link to the full Pew survey at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Pew Research – Bipartisan Support for Early In-Person Voting, Voter ID, Election Day National Holiday
Brennan Center for Justice – Voter ID
MIT Election Data & Science Lab – Automatic Voter Registration
Ballotpedia – Voting Methods and Equipment by State

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, League of Women Voters, National Disability Rights Network, Declaration for American Democracy

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #PewTrust #AVR #VoterRegistration #ElectionDayHoliday

The post Survey Finds Strong Support from Americans for Early Voting & Election Day Holiday Reforms, but Also Restrictive Government-Issued ID Requirements appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report and Podcast for November 4, 2022

Listen!

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

A quote attributed to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels says, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”   Polling just released by the Pew Research Center confirms just before the 2022 midterm election that an alarming number of voters have low confidence in our election system.  

In October 2018, Pew polling showed that 87% of voters supporting GOP congressional candidates thought the upcoming 2018 midterm election would be conducted “Very well” or “Somewhat well.”  In 2020, that number dropped to 50% of GOP voters.  Now, two years after “The Big Lie” and the January 6th committee revelations, that number has improved just 6 points to 56%.   

When asked in 2020 whether their in-person votes would be counted accurately, 92% of GOP voters said they were “Very” or “Somewhat” confident.  In 2022, that number dropped to 79%, with “Very” confident dropping from 48% to just 26%.  

But that confidence drops even further with the counting of absentee and mail-in ballots, and it hasn’t changed much from 2020 to 2022.   Just 37% GOP-supporting voters are “Very” or “Somewhat” confident that mail ballots will be counted accurately in 2022, compared to 36% in 2020.

We have links to the poll, and credible sources showing the American election system is safe, accurate and secure at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post Poll Shows GOP Voters Continue to Have Low Confidence in Elections, Despite No Credible Evidence of Problems appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 31, 2022

Listen!

Today’s Links

Articles: 

Georgia Votes – Stats on Georgia 2022 Midterm
Forbes – Most Americans Support Early Voting (A Democratic Priority) And Photo ID Laws (A Republican One), Survey Finds
BallotPedia – Arguments for and against early voting
United States Elections Project – 2022 General Election Early Voting Statistics by Michael McDonald
Professor, University of Florida 
Pew Research Center – The voting experience in 2020
National Conference of State Legislatures – Early In-Person Voting
FiveThirtyEight – Early-Voting Laws Probably Don’t Boost Turnout

Groups Taking Action:
When We All Vote, League of Women Voters,  All Voting is Local, Unidos US, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

In the 2020 election, roughly 70% of America voted BEFORE election day, driven by the pandemic.   But it appears that voters LIKE the convenience and safety of voting early, either in person or by mail.  Georgia Votes reports that 1.6 Million voters have already voted in the 2022 Georgia midterm.  As of Oct. 30, 450,000 more votes were cast early, than in the 2018 midterm. 

A survey released by Gallup last week and reported by Forbes shows wide support for in-person early voting:  95% among Democrats and 60% among Republicans, but down from 74% or Republicans an earlier poll.  

Why is early voting popular?   It gives flexibility to working voters, caregivers, or to voters with transportation issues.  It allows voters who may have changes or issues with their registration to get them fixed, rather than being disenfranchised on election day.  In states like Georgia & Texas, voting early can help overcome wait times, fewer polling places and restriction of drop boxes.

Pew Research polled voters after the 2020 election and found 72% of people who voted early did so because it was convenient.   FiveThirtyEight reports that while voters like the convenience, studies around the country show it doesn’t increase turnout, just shifts the times people vote.  But its popularity means early voting will not disappear anytime soon.  

Articles and links to groups taking action are at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post Early Voting is Popular Among All American Voters. Why? Because it’s More Convenient appeared first on American Democracy Minute.