Voters split on whether Senate should require supermajority to pass legislation: poll

Voters are split on whether the Senate should require a majority or supermajority to pass legislation, according to a new poll conducted by Politico and the Morning Consult.

When asked if the Senate should do away with the filibuster, which allows the minority party to block the majority unless there are 60 votes in the 100-member chamber, 42 percent of voters said they agreed with the rule while 30 percent said they disagree with the rule. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they were unsure or had no opinion on the matter.

The question comes as President BidenJoe BidenMcConnell: Rounds ‘told the truth’ about 2020 election Abrams thanks Biden for Georgia speech, backs call for Senate rules change Overnight Health Care — Biden officials take heat at Senate hearing MORE has called on the Senate to do away with the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation.

“Sadly, the U.S. Senate, designed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body, has been rendered a shell of its former self,” Biden said during a speech on voting rights in Atlanta on Tuesday. “It gives me no satisfaction in saying that as an institutionalist, as a man who was honored to serve in the Senate,” Biden said. “But as an institutionalist, I believe the threat to our democracy is so grave that we must find a way to pass these voting rights bills.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck SchumerChuck SchumerClyburn on updating election law: ‘What is true today was not true then’ Biden eulogizes Reid as a fighter ‘for the America we all love’ Like it or not, all roads forward for Democrats go through Joe Manchin MORE (D-N.Y.) has threatened to change the filibuster rule if Republicans do not move forward on voting rights legislation by Jan. 17, but it appears to be a longshot as he would need the votes of moderate Sens. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinAbrams thanks Biden for Georgia speech, backs call for Senate rules change Biden’s Georgia speech was a call to save democracy as we know it Stacey Abrams’s shocking snub of Biden, Harris signals possible 2024 aspirations MORE (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten SinemaKyrsten SinemaAbrams thanks Biden for Georgia speech, backs call for Senate rules change Biden’s Georgia speech was a call to save democracy as we know it Stacey Abrams’s shocking snub of Biden, Harris signals possible 2024 aspirations MORE (D-Ariz.), both of whom have said they do not want to change the Senate rules.

Thirty-seven percent of voters said they support Schumer’s threat to change the filibuster for voting rights legislation while 36 percent say they disagree with the move. The poll found 27 percent don’t know or have no opinion on the issue. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell: Rounds ‘told the truth’ about 2020 election McConnell will run for another term as leader despite Trump’s attacks Top Republicans pressing Hogan to run for Senate MORE (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Democrats are overhyping the impact of new voting laws in order to “justify [a] top-down election takeover.”  

“The Democratic leader is using fake hysteria, fake hysteria about 2021 state laws to justify a power grab he began floating actually back in 2019, and an election takeover that was first drafted in 2019,” McConnell said.