Who supports voter ID laws? Obviously, Republicans support them more than Democrats. Since voter ID laws are mostly aimed at suppressing the Democratic-leaning vote, that makes sense.
But there are differences even among voters who identify as either Republican or Democratic. According to a new survey from the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware, 53% of Democrats with low levels of racial resentment oppose voter ID laws. Among Democrats with high levels of racial resentment, that plummets to 23%.
Ditto for Republicans. Among those with low racial resentment scores, 13% oppose voter ID laws. Among Republicans with high racial resentment scores, that’s cut in half, to 7%.
Racial resentment is measured by responses to only three questions, which makes it a little less robust than we might like. On the other hand, the questions are admirably straightforward. The first one, for example, is this: “I resent any special considerations that African Americans receive because it’s unfair to other Americans.” That’s pretty clear.
I’m not sure there’s anything much we can do with these results. They aren’t going to change anyone’s mind. But it certainly confirms that race is bound up pretty strongly with the whole voter ID movement.
