Democrats, contending laws requiring voters to present photo ID amount to discriminatory “suppression” of the black vote, are pushing legislation in the Senate that would gut state voter ID laws.
But a new Rasmussen national telephone and online survey finds that 69% of likely black voters and 75% overall believe voters should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to vote.
Only 21% are opposed to such a requirement.
Rasmussen noted that 36 states have enacted some form of voter ID law. However, those laws would be nullified if the Senate approves HR1, which passed the House on a party-line vote.
The support for voter ID laws has increased since 2018, when 67% said voters should be required to show photo ID.
In the latest survey, 89% of Republicans support voter ID requirements along with 60% of Democrats and 77% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
As WND reported, a black congressman who grew up in the Jim Crow South, Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, says the notion that blacks can’t get a photo ID is racist in itself.
On Twitter, he responded to a user who accused him of “bias” because he opposed gun-control bills while approving of voter ID laws.
“You know what’s racist? Assuming because I’m black that ‘I just don’t have the capability of getting an I-D.’ Disclaimer: We are capable of getting and I-D (and even using the internet!)”
You know what’s racist? Assuming because I’m black that “I just don’t have the capability of getting an I-D.”
Disclaimer: We are capable of getting and I-D (and even using the internet!) https://t.co/WpF2zQ4KYX
— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) March 11, 2021
“I used my I.D. to drive a car, to get a job, to board a plane, pick up prescriptions, and virtually everything else in life … So tell me again, why is showing an I.D. ‘Voter suppression’?”
A former NFL all-pro defensive back, Owens won a seat in Congress last fall, representing a district that includes a large portion of Salt Lake City.
I use my I.D. to drive a car, to get a job, to board a plane, pick up prescriptions, and virtually everything else in life…
So tell me again, why is showing an I.D. “voter suppression”?
— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) March 11, 2021
In 2016, Ami Horowitz conducted one of his man-on-the-street video surveys, asking white people in New York City what they thought about voter ID laws.
He captured many saying the laws are inherently racist, designed to suppressed the black vote.
Some said minorities are less likey to have IDs, because they don’t live in areas with “easy access” to DMVs or the internet.
“I feel like they don’t have the knowledge of how it works,” one said.
However, when he asked blacks on a East Harlem street whether they carried state ID, they all said yes and that every black person they knew also had one.
They also were indignant when told of the notion that they didn’t know where to get one or didn’t have access to the internet.
See the video:
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
