Majority of Americans back making voting easier: poll

A majority of Americans support measures that make voting easier, according to a new poll released on Friday.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that the most popular proposal was automatic voter registration, with support from 60 percent of respondents.

Fifty-three percent said they were in favor of allowing citizens to register and vote on the same day at polling places.

In addition, 52 percent expressed support for letting people vote by mail without requiring a reason, and 51 percent said former felons should be allowed to vote.

The least popular measure, but still with 43 percent support, was sending mail-in ballots to every registered voter.

Most responses, however, were divided along party lines, with significantly more Democrats than Republicans favoring measures to make voting easier. The lone exception was requiring a photo ID in order to vote, which garnered 72 percent support.

The ID requirement was backed by 91 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of Democrats and 72 percent of independents.

The poll comes as congressional Democrats push for election reform and voting rights legislation and as GOP-led states like Georgia enact laws that impose new restrictions.

The survey was conducted March 25-29 and among 1,166 adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.