As House Republicans and Senate firebrands increase pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to pass the SAVE Act voter ID bill through a talking filibuster, public awareness of the issue is low, with a survey showing that barely one-third of Americans even know what the filibuster is.The filibuster is a procedural device in the Senate by which lawmakers may delay or outright block a law through extended debate, though in practice, it has functioned as a 60-vote passage threshold for years. In recent months, some Republican senators, notably Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have pushed for the Senate to embrace the traditional talking filibuster to ram through voter ID.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen on Friday, highlighted an earlier survey he conducted that appeared to show the issue had not gained traction in the public. In a November Napolitan News Survey, 59% of voters said they knew what the filibuster is, while just 37% gave a response that the survey deemed “close to accurate.”
The survey then provided two, starkly different characterizations of the filibuster, resulting in varying opinions on its favorability. In the first instance, Napolitan called the filibuster a protection against passing “major new laws on a partisan basis.” That definition saw 54% say the filibuster was “at least somewhat good” compared to 21% who disagreed.
When phrased as a tool that permitted 41 senators to block legislation with majority support, however, only 40% supported it.
Support for ending the filibuster outright was mixed. 43% opposed such a move while 40% supported it.
Conducted Nov. 3-4, the survey questioned 1,000 registered voters and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.
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