6 in 10 in new poll support law clarifying vice president can’t reject state-certified electoral votes

More than half of Americans questioned in a new poll said they would support a law that clarifies that an acting vice president can’t reject state-certified electoral votes.  

The Morning Consult-Politico poll, published on Wednesday, found that 62 percent of respondents said that they would support Congress passing such a law, while 14 percent said they would not. 

Forty-eight percent of respondents also said that they would support a federal law that requires 20 percent of both congressional chambers to force a vote on objecting to electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections, instead of one member from each, while 18 percent said they will oppose it. 

Sixty-four percent, meanwhile, said that they would support legislation that ensures resources for both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to aid in the transition if there is any reasonable doubt about the election outcome, as 13 percent oppose such a measure. 

And when asked about Congress passing a law that doubles the penalties for those who intimidate election officials, 74 percent said they would support that type of legislation, while 11 percent of respondents would oppose it. 

A bipartisan group of senators last week unveiled plans to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which clarifies that the sitting vice president doesn’t have the power to overturn a presidential election and makes it harder for lawmakers to object to the Electoral College results. 

The proposed measure comes in response to the Jan 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, where a mob of then-President Trump’s supporters stormed the building in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory, resulting in the deaths of five people.

Fifty-one percent of respondents in the new survey said they believe Republican lawmakers have some responsibility for what transpired during the rioting, while 38 percent said GOP lawmakers are not responsible for what happened on Jan. 6.

The Morning Consult-Politico poll was conducted July 22-24 with 2,006 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 2 percentage points.