The American people don’t think very highly of their federal legislature. These days it seems Congress is slightly more popular than syphilis, and less so than measles. Let’s face it, Congress’ action — and inaction — has proven more dangerous than both.
Put the latest polling in perspective. More people trust mass media (28%) — speaking of communicable diseases — than approve of Congress (16%), according to the latest Gallup polls. That’s an 80 percent disapproval rating, with the remaining 4 percent apparently in the “if you don’t have anything nice to say …” camp. Congress’ approval rating is just 3 percentage points above its all-time low.
It’s pretty ugly.
You know what’s really popular? Voter ID.
A CBS News-YouGov poll this month found 80 percent of respondents support requiring valid photo identification to vote in elections. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released this month found 81 percent of registered voters surveyed back photo ID. The same poll showed 85 percent of voters believe only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in U.S. elections, “including a strong majority across political parties.”
Which brings us to the current political theater over the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) America Act. The Harvard/Harris poll found 71 percent of voters support the election-integrity bill now struggling for air in the Republican-controlled Senate. That strong showing includes 91 percent Republicans, 69 percent independents, and 50 percent of Democrats.
The SAVE America Act’s fundamental provisions include photo ID to vote, and documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. It is four times more popular than congress.
So isn’t it strange that so many of these unpopular kids are trying to kill the bill outright or snuff it out with Senate procedure? You would think a bill with such sweeping bipartisan support would have the members of this low-approval institution chomping at the bit to pass it.
Nope.
‘Every Single Vote Matters’
Democrats can’t hide their true intentions, of course. They want noncitizens and other ineligible individuals to vote. They’ve been screaming patently false things, like the SAVE America Act would disenfranchise millions of minority and female voters. It wouldn’t. The legislation would definitely suppress fraudulent voters. Democrats don’t like that. The polling numbers show most Americans do. The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found 54 percent of respondents prioritize stopping voter fraud over access concerns for eligible citizens.
But fraud is no big deal, Dems insist.
Yes it is.
Election fraud has and continues to disenfranchise eligible voters. And it happens a lot more than the left and their accomplice media friends like to acknowledge, even in places that have put a premium on election security.
Earlier this month, The Federalist’s Maisey Jefferson reported that an illegal immigrant is accused of voting in five presidential elections, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In January, Alabama election officials reported that they found 186 noncitizens on the state’s voter registration rolls, 25 of them suspected of illegally voting. A noncitizen who has lived in Georgia for 30 years told state elections officials that she has voted in multiple elections thanks to automatic voter registration through department of motor vehicle offices.
Those are just a few examples.
A couple of fraudulent votes could change the outcome of an election. The North Carolina Republican primary for state Senate District 26 earlier this month came down to two votes.
Rep. Marinette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, won her House seat by a mere six votes in the contentious 2020 election.
“When elections are decided on razor thin margins like this, every single vote matters, which is why it’s important that the only votes cast and counted are votes that are legitimate and legal,” The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman wrote. “It’s precisely why legislation like the SAVE America Act is so important.”
‘No Good Argument Against the SAVE America Act’
The SAVE America Act is mothballed in the Senate while the unpopular Congress enjoys a two-week spring break. Leftist groups celebrated the Senate’s covetous protection of its Easter recess over the securing of U.S. elections.
Members, too, skipped town without coming to terms on funding the Department of Homeland Security, forcing President Donald Trump to step in and move federal dollars to pay Transportation Security Administration workers via executive order. Democrats refuse to fund TSA and other portions of Homeland Security unless they can stop ICE from enforcing immigration law.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., shamed into actually moving the voter verification bill to the Senate floor for debate, doesn’t plan to call his Republican colleagues back to keep fighting for legislation the vast majority of Americans support. Thune and his fellow RINOs aren’t all that interested in saving the SAVE America Act. Many wish it would just go away. Their big-money lobbyist buddies see it as a waste of time, taking Senate attention away from their myriad interests that have nothing to do with election integrity. The RINOs agree. They have to. Their campaign war chests depend on these special interests.
Beyond that, a lot of senators on both sides of the aisle aren’t interested in working more than a few days a week at best. The ongoing floor debate on the bill has really drained them.
“There’s not a good argument against the SAVE America Act,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., an election integrity warrior, has said.
Trump wants Congress come back to work and pass a DHS funding package. The legislative branch should also take a pause in its spring break to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill Trump has called his No. 1 legislative priority. As it should be.
Most American voters think it’s pretty important. But their opinions don’t really rate with congress. Is it any wonder congress is so unpopular?
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
