News and Commentary

POLL: Americans Do NOT Want Voting Age Lowered To 16

   DailyWire.com

Americans really don’t want the voting age lowered to 17, and they really, really don’t want it lowered to 16, a blow to a recent proposal by many Democrats.

A Hill-HarrisX poll released Thursday found a clear majority, 75%, of registered voters were against lowering the voting age to 17, and a whopping 84% opposed lowering it to 16. As The Hill reported, “Every age group in the poll was against lowering the voting age to 16 or 17, though younger respondents were more supportive than older participants.”

That’s not good for Democrats who have been recently calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16.

Of the younger participants who were more open to the idea, 39% favored the idea of lowering the voting age to 17 and 27% favored lowering it to 16. This “younger” group included respondents who were between the ages of 18 and 34. Conversely, older Americans were even less favorable to the idea than the average. Just 13% of respondents aged 65 and older were open to the voting age being lowered to 17 and a miniscule 5% supported lowering it to 16.

The poll also found, predictably, that Democrats were less opposed to the idea than Republicans, but an overwhelming majority still opposed the plan.

“Eighty-eight percent of GOP respondents said that 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote, and 89 percent opposed letting 16-year-olds vote,” The Hill reported. “Among Democrats, 65 percent said 17-year-olds should not be allowed to vote, with 78 percent saying the same about 16-year-olds.”

So far only one Democrat 2020 hopeful has suggested lowering the minimum voting age to 16: Andrew Yang. This is the same candidate who has proposed giving almost everyone $1,000 a month, so it’s not all that surprising he would suggest such a crazy idea.

In March, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) introduced an amendment to a House resolution that would lower the voting age to 16 ahead of the 2020 election. As The Daily Wire previously reported, the move was seen as a way to bolster Democrat support, since younger voters tend to lean Democrat when they don’t have “the attendant responsibilities contingent on reaching adulthood.” It’s easy to be a Democrat when it’s not your money being spent by the federal government.

Pressley, however, tried to claim her amendment wasn’t a power grab but about the youth:

Our young people are at the forefront of some of the most existential crises facing our communities and our society at large. I believe that those who will inherit the nation we design here in Congress by virtue of our policies and authority should have a say in who represents them.

Pressley’s amendment failed to secure enough votes, but still managed to get the support of 126 representatives — which should frighten anyone concerned about democracy.

Rather than standing up for sanity, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) agreed with the idea of lowering the voting age, saying she thought it was “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.”

Can we expect Democrats to reverse course after this poll? Probably not.

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The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  POLL: Americans Do NOT Want Voting Age Lowered To 16