Poll: Majority support voting by mail, bucking Trump

The survey, released Wednesday, shows 58 percent of respondents saying the U.S. “should allow all voters to vote by mail in elections this year” to help slow the spread of the highly contagious disease, which public health experts warn could endanger physical polling places.

There is a substantial partisan split within those results, driven by President Donald Trump’s frequent attacks on mail voting. Among Democrats, 81 percent favored allowing everyone to vote by mail, and 57 percent of independents did too. Just 33 percent of Republicans agreed.

Thirty-one percent of total respondents said the U.S. “should not allow all voters to vote by mail in elections this year because it jeopardizes election security,” echoing Trump’s arguments. That view was strongest among Republicans (57 percent) and tailed off among independents (27 percent) and Democrats (10 percent).