WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – As coronavirus concerns continue to plague the nation, a majority of American voters now favor a nationwide change in election rules to allow voting by mail.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that 58% of voters are in favor of casting their ballots by mail this November. However, 39% of Americans oppose a permanent change. But of that group, 10% say that all voters should be able to mail in their ballots this year because coronavirus could still be a major public threat in the fall. When these numbers are combined, 67% of eligible voters support a mail-in option.
The polling also reflects a vast partisan difference when it comes to voting by mail, with 82% percent of Democrats in favor of mail balloting compared to 31% of Republicans in favor of allowing nationwide voting by mail.
61% of independents favor the mail-in option.
More than a dozen states postponed or changed their voting formats amid the coronavirus outbreak. Five states currently conduct elections entirely by mail including Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii.
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