Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Made with Flourish

Paging Mitch McConnell: Majority of Americans want more election security

Made with Flourish
Made with Flourish

Who's concerned about election security? The majority of Americans.

According to a new poll by the Brookings Institution, a majority of Americans support both additional funding and more technical assistance to help states protect against interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Perhaps the survey results and growing pressure from his own party will move Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop blocking legislation that would bolster election security.

The Brookings Institution poll of 2,000 adults conducted in early August found that 58 percent supported additional funding for election security and 60 percent endorsed more technical assistance to help states upgrade their election infrastructure to combat interference.


Only 19 percent opposed more funding and 23 percent opposed more assistance. About a quarter of those surveyed were "unsure" of either proposal, according to the survey.

Congress approved $380 million in election security grant funding to the states last year, but state officials have said the funds don't go far enough to protect all voting systems against cyberattacks.

The poll did find mixed results over concerns about foreign interference in elections and whether state officials were doing enough to protect the integrity of the ballot box.

Among those surveyed, 34 percent said foreign interference was "very much" a threat to American democracy versus 26 percent who said it was "not very much" of a threat.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

On whether their state election officials were doing enough to safeguard voting machines, 32 percent said yes and 29 percent said no, with the majority (39 percent) saying they were unsure.

Nearly twice as many survey participants (29 percent) believed Democrats were doing more to fight foreign interference than Republicans (16 percent). The Democratic-led House of Representatives has passed election security legislation, and there are a number of bipartisan bills that have been introduced in the Senate. But McConnell has refused to allow a vote on any of them.

Over a quarter of those surveyed also said concerns about foreign interference will make them more likely to vote; only 3 percent said it will make them less likely.

Made with Flourish

Read More

The Fragile Ceasefire in Gaza

A view of destruction as Palestinians, who returned to the city following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, struggle to survive among ruins of destroyed buildings during cold weather in Jabalia, Gaza on January 23, 2025.

Getty Images / Anadolu

The Fragile Ceasefire in Gaza

Ceasefire agreements are like modern constitutions. They are fragile, loaded with idealistic promises, and too easily ignored. Both are also crucial to the realization of long-term regional peace. Indeed, ceasefires prevent the violence that is frequently the fuel for instability, while constitutions provide the structure and the guardrails that are equally vital to regional harmony.

More than ever, we need both right now in the Middle East.

Keep ReadingShow less
Money Makes the World Go Round Roundtable

The Committee on House Administration meets on the 15th anniversary of the SCOTUS decision on Citizens United v. FEC.

Medill News Service / Samanta Habashy

Money Makes the World Go Round Roundtable

WASHINGTON – On the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and one day after President Trump’s inauguration, House Democrats made one thing certain: money determines politics, not the other way around.

“One of the terrible things about Citizens United is people feel that they're powerless, that they have no hope,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Ma.).

Keep ReadingShow less
Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

The United States Supreme Court.

Getty Images / Rudy Sulgan

Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

Fourteen years ago, after the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the popular blanket primary system, Californians voted to replace the deeply unpopular closed primary that replaced it with a top-two system. Since then, Democratic Party insiders, Republican Party insiders, minor political parties, and many national reform and good government groups, have tried (and failed) to deep-six the system because the public overwhelmingly supports it (over 60% every year it’s polled).

Now, three minor political parties, who opposed the reform from the start and have unsuccessfully sued previously, are once again trying to overturn it. The Peace and Freedom Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party have teamed up to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Their brief repeats the same argument that the courts have previously rejected—that the top-two system discriminates against parties and deprives voters of choice by not guaranteeing every party a place on the November ballot.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independents as peacemakers

Group of people waving small American flags at sunset.

Getty Images//Simpleimages

Independents as peacemakers

In the years ahead, independents, as candidates and as citizens, should emerge as peacemakers. Even with a new administration in Washington, independents must work on a long-term strategy for themselves and for the country.

The peacemaker model stands in stark contrast to what might be called the marriage counselor model. Independent voters, on the marriage counselor model, could elect independent candidates for office or convince elected politicians to become independents in order to secure the leverage needed to force the parties to compromise with each other. On this model, independents, say six in the Senate, would be like marriage counselors because their chief function would be to put pressure on both parties to make deals, especially when it comes to major policy bills that require 60 votes in the Senate.

Keep ReadingShow less