Americans Resoundingly Reject Democrats' Idea of Lowering Voting Age in New Poll
American voters largely rejected a Democrat-led drive to lower the voting age to 16 or 17 years old in a recent poll.
A Hill-HarrisX poll unveiled Thursday showed that 75 percent of registered voters surveyed oppose allowing 17-year-olds to vote. When it came to 16-year-olds, the number against rose to 84 percent, according to The Hill.
The idea was proposed in March as an amendment to a House Democrat-sponsored bill to overhaul voting laws in America. The amendment was defeated 305-126 but was supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16. I think it’s really important to capture kids when they’re in high school when they’re interested in all of this when they’re learning about the government to be able to vote,” she said at the time, according to Real Clear Politics.
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang has also endorsed a lower voting age.
“(B)ecause of election cycles, there’s a level of unfairness that comes with what year a person is born. Senators are on a six-year cycle, and the president is on a four-year cycle, not to mention local offices,” his website said in making the case for a 16-year-old to vote.
“Someone born at the wrong time in a cycle would have to wait much longer to cast a ballot for certain offices than someone born at another time.”
The new poll found the strongest support for 16- and 17-year-old voters was in the youngest age range. Among voters aged 18-34, 39 percent said they would support letting 17-year-olds vote and 27 percent supported letting 16-year-olds vote.
Support for letting 17-year-olds vote decreased in every age bracket moving up in age, from 29 percent among voters ages 35-49 to 19 percent among those 50-64 to 13 percent among voters over 65.
As for 16-year-olds, only 20 percent of voters 35-49 supported allowing them to vote, while 10 percent of voters 50-64 said they would back the change and only 5 percent of voters over 65 agreed that 16-year-olds should vote.
Republicans were more opposed to the lowered voting age, with 88 percent opposed to allowing 17-year-olds to vote and 89 percent against 16-year-olds casting ballots.
A majority of Democrats also opposed the lower voting age, with 65 percent against 17-year-olds voting and 78 percent against letting 16-year-olds vote.
A Rasmussen Reports poll from March showed 17 percent of likely voters supported letting 16-year-olds vote while 74 percent opposed the idea.
The idea has been proposed in Oregon but faces opposition, CNN reported.
“Sixteen-year-olds are too young to enlist in the military, too young to own firearms, too young to own property, too young to enter into legal contracts, and too young to get married. But they are old enough to vote?” Oregon Senate Republican leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said in a statement opposing the change.
“People are not legally considered adults in this country until they are 18 years old, and I believe they shouldn’t be able to vote until then either.”
He added, “This is nothing more than an attempt to expand the voter rolls to sway elections.”
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