Voters are split on how much support a bill should have to pass the United States Senate, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll shows.
Forty-two percent said that they either strongly or somewhat supported the Senate filibuster, which requires 60 affirmative votes for almost all legislation to pass. Thirty percent said they were either somewhat or strongly opposed, while 28% said they were unsure or had no opinion.
The survey’s release comes as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vows to debate and potentially vote on changing the 60-vote rule and as President Joe Biden explicitly called for its repeal so Democrats can pass their voting bill. The Democrats’ bills face near-unanimous Republican opposition, but if Democrats lower the threshold for passage to just a simple majority, they could advance them without any GOP votes.
And while a plurality of Americans said they supported the 60-vote threshold, they were nearly split when asked about the minimum amount of support a bill should have to pass the Senate. Forty percent said that a bill should have at least 51 votes in favor, 41% said it should have at least 60 votes in favor and 19% said they did not know or had no opinion.
Voters were also split when explicitly asked if they supported abolishing the filibuster to “move forward on voting rights legislation.” While 37% said they supported the move, 36% said they were opposed and 27% said they were unsure.
Republicans have vowed to grind the Senate to a halt if Democrats nuke the filibuster, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatening to force votes on politically-tricky issues and other members warning that the move would create an environment where legislation will be passed only to be repealed years later.
The survey sampled 2,000 registered voters from Jan. 8-9, and it has a margin of error of two points.
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