A message emphasizing Merit and Patriotism increased support for the Freedom to Vote Act among Republicans and white people.
This research was conducted in partnership with Strategic Victory Fund.
Background
The research team investigated voting rights messaging during a week of significant news coverage. They incorporated current research and Biden's speech into their investigation to understand objections from bill opponents and develop messages that might earn their support.
Top Findings
While no message moved overall support by statistically significant margins, the "Merit" message,emphasizing patriotism and hard work,increased support among white people by 15 points and among Republicans and conservatives, though it showed negative effects among people of color. Democrats already demonstrated very high baseline support, leaving little room for growth.
Audience Understanding Survey
On January 9th, researchers surveyed 784 people asking about the Freedom to Vote Act, which would:
- Increase penalties for tampering with voting records
- Restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens
- Expand voting by mail and early voting availability
- Require post-election audits in all states
Results showed 69% support and 11% opposition overall. Opponents were nearly exclusively Republican, more likely to be white, 55+, rural or suburban, middle income, and Protestant. They valued Merit and Patriotism, watched Fox News, and trusted police and churches.
Supporters across categories mentioned voting rights restoration for formerly incarcerated people. Opponents frequently cited fraud concerns and voter ID requirements.
Rapid Message Test
Researchers recruited 986 respondents and randomly assigned each to one of four messages or a placebo, then asked their position on the Freedom to Vote Act.
Overall Results
While support increased 5-7 percentage points across all message groups and opposition decreased 2-5 points, these effects were not statistically significant overall. The "Merit" message showed the largest estimated effect.
White Respondents
The "Merit" message increased support by 14 percentage points among white respondents.
People of Color
The "Merit" message was estimated to decrease support by 5 percentage points among people of color.
Biden Voters
No messages affected Biden voters, whose baseline support was 89%.
Messages Tested
Biden: Excerpted President Biden's remarks about defending democracy and voting access through the bill.
Freedom: Appealed to shared American values of freedom while criticizing opponents as having "endangered our lives with lies about COVID and our election."
Rhetorical: Explored qualities of good voters,commitment, hard work, dedication,connecting voting freedom to broader values.
Merit: "The greatness of America is built by the efforts of hard-working people. Yet, the hardest workers today often cannot exercise their fundamental right to vote, simply because they don't have the time to jump through the bureaucratic hoops involved."
Key Experiment Details
- Audience: All adults, balanced on age, race, and gender
- Geography: United States
- Sample size: 979 (weighted)
- Dates in field: January 12-13, 2022
- Weighting factors: age, race, gender, education, and party