A partisan and racial divide on voting rights in the United States has been found in a Pew Research Center survey published in July.
According to the survey, 57% of Americans believe voting is a fundamental right for every US citizen that should not be restricted. Out of that 57%, 78% are Democratic or lean Democratic, while 42% believe voting is a privilege that can be limited, with 67% of those Republican or Republican leaning.
African-Americans are more likely to see voting as a fundamental right than any other racial or ethnic group in the US, according to the study. When asked if voting is a fundamental right for all Americans 77% of African-Americans agreed with the statement, as did two thirds of Asian-American and 63% of Hispanic-Americans.
White Americans are divided when it comes to how they view voting rights, with 51% saying that voting is a right and 48% saying it is a privilege.
While there is agreement on the importance, the view on whether people are being prevented from voting in practice varies. 87% of Republicans are at least somewhat confident anyone qualified to vote is able to, while Democrats express less confidence with only 69% stating they are somewhat confident in their ability to vote.
The survey found another point of general agreement, with 81% of Americans believing it is important to prevent illegal voters from doing so. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe it is very important to prevent this, with 78% of Republicans saying it is very important compared to 44% of Democrats.
In contrast, Democrats are more confident that steps are already being taken to prevent people from voting illegally, with 79% of Democrats saying they either somewhat or very confident illegal voting is prevented, while only 30% of Republicans feel the same way.