Bad News for MLB: Poll Shows Majority of Americans Agree with the Georgia Election Law's Provisions
The results of a new poll should leave MLB executives very concerned f0r the future of the league.
Conducted in response to MLB’s decision to pull its All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia’s newly passed election reform bill, the poll shows that Americans — once told what’s actually in the bill — are overwhelmingly in favor of the law’s key provisions.
Moreover, a majority of the poll’s respondents became “less supportive” of MLB’s decision to move the game after learning what was actually in the Georgia legislation.
Commissioned by The Daily Wire, SurveyMonkey conducted the poll, which sampled 1,026 American adults between Saturday through Tuesday with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points, according to a Daily Wire news release. In terms of political affiliation, 34 percent of respondents were Democrat, 31 percent were Republican and 35 percent were independent voters.
Many of the law’s provisions most fervently condemned by Democrats and left-wing activists are actually supported by a majority of Americans, the poll found.
Those surveyed agreed with voter ID requirements, banning the practice of line warming (partisan organizations handing out gifts, such as food and water, to voters waiting in line) and a policy allowing election offices to only send ballot request forms to voters who have requested them (absentee voting rather than universal mail-in).
The most hotly contested of the bill’s provisions — a clause which requires voters to have a driver’s license or state ID when voting absentee — was supported by 78 percent of respondents, including majorities among Democrats, MLB fans, minorities and all age groups.
Perhaps the second most derided provision — a restriction on handing out refreshments and other gifts to those waiting in line to vote — was supported by 63 percent of respondents.
Furthermore, 76 percent of respondents agreed that “campaign workers and organizations should leave voters alone” while they wait in line and 81 percent approved of a provision allowing election officials to instead provide self-service water stations for voters who may be thirsty.
Upon learning of the specifics of the Georgia law, the poll found many Americans’ views began to change quite considerably.
29 percent initially said they knew “little to nothing about the law.” After hearing the specifics of the law’s key provisions, 71 percent became “more supportive” of it.
Additionally, 54 percent reported becoming “less supportive” of MLB’s decision to move the prominent All-Star Game out of Atlanta after learning what was actually in the Georgia legislation.
Concerns for election integrity grew out of the 2020 election, during which numerous irregularities occurred (albeit there is no evidence widespread, coordinated, election-altering fraud occurred).
Some specific examples include numerous smaller, more localized instances of voter fraud and the fact that states allowed officials to unilaterally change voting laws that only the legislature has the power to alter.
The biggest security concern that came out of the 2020 election, however, was the widespread use of unsolicited, universal mail-in voting.
The director of the Honest Elections Project, Jason Snead, explained the gravity of these issues to The Western Journal back in August.
“So when it comes to the idea of universally mailing ballots to all voter registrations, we know the ballots will go to the wrong place or go out in the names of voters who are deceased,” Snead said. “It introduces lots of problems. It risks chaos and voter confusion and unnecessarily opens the door to fraud as well.”
“You have these large collections of ballots that are automatically going out and just being left behind,” he told The Western Journal.
“That’s a pretty clear indication to folks that these people probably are not qualified voters, probably are not going to come back and ask questions about why someone voted in their name. And that’s … a mark for people who might want to cheat the system.”
“When you’re also undermining other ballot safeguards like witness requirements, signature match, all of which are designed to ensure that the person voting a ballot is who they say they are, because after all, if you’re voting at home, not in a polling place, there’s no one there to make sure that you are who you say you are so you have to do something else to satisfy that basic requirement.”
The new Georgia law’s provisions — particularly those requiring mail-in votes to be requested (absentee) by voters with identification — alleviate many of these concerns.
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