Voters are split on their attitudes toward the filibuster, which has in recent months been at the center of a debate over stalled voting rights efforts in the Senate.
The rule, which allows the minority party to block the majority party’s legislative priorities by effectively requiring a supermajority of senators to agree to allow a final vote, is supported by about 42% of voters, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll conducted Jan. 8-9. Another 30% of voters disagree with the rule, the survey says. And a similar share of voters, 28%, said they do not know enough about or have no opinion on the filibuster at all.
Democrats currently hold an effective majority in the 50-50 Senate, with the tie-breaking vote of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Changing the filibuster rule could allow the chamber to advance legislation with that simple majority, rather than the supermajority required at present to end debate. Ultimately, respondents differed by just 1% on the size of the majority – 51 versus 60 votes – they believe the Senate should require for bills to pass, underscoring the basic question over the filibuster.
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But Democrats have also been considering a carve-out in the rule that would apply specifically to voting rights bills, as exists for some budget issues or Supreme Court nominees. When asked about changing the filibuster rule in order to pass voting rights legislation, respondents were even more split than on the filibuster generally, with 37% supporting the move, while 36% opposed a change to the rule and 27% took no position.
The results come after Biden on Tuesday delivered an uncharacteristically aggressive address calling for changes in the Senate filibuster to allow lawmakers to debate sweeping voting rights bills and pass them with a simple majority, reflecting a newfound impatience with those who won’t protect the right to vote.
“I support changing Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights,” the president said in what was billed as a major voting rights speech in Atlanta.
Biden has no authority to change Senate rules such as the filibuster. But his endorsement of changes to the rule – one that allows a single senator to hold up debate or an up-or-down vote unless 60 senators vote to move things along – is notable, perhaps bringing new urgency to the effort among leaders in his party.
“Sadly, the United States Senate – designed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body – has been rendered a shell of its former self,” Biden said. “It gives me no satisfaction in saying that, as an institutionalist, as a man who was honored to serve in the Senate. But as an institutionalist, I believe that the threat to our democracy is so grave that we must find a way to pass these voting rights bills.”
