Poll: Equality concerns rise in US

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A percentage of Americans in both major parties presume that voting rules adopted by their states are appropriate and support voter identification laws, but Democrats fear progress in voting rights for Black Americans. 

According to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, voting was the only one of eight subjects where fewer Americans now than four years ago said African Americans had made significant progress since the civil rights era, including education and police treatment.

Moreover, Democrats are significantly more concerned about the lack of progress, with 86% believing that more needs to be done to ensure racial equality in voting rights, compared to 40% of Republicans.

Last year, more stringent regulations were enacted in 19 GOP-controlled states as a result of the ongoing partisan struggle over election procedures.

“I’m concerned that the more conservative elements are attempting to create a Jim Crow 2,” said Richard Barnett, a retired attorney who volunteered as an election judge in his Chicago suburb, echoing the term President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, used to attack the new Republican laws. “They’re making it hard for people to vote to consolidate their power.”

Even so, Democrats are content with the voting restrictions in their home states, both red and blue. According to the research, roughly three out of four Americans believe their state's rules are "about correct."

Recoa Russell, a 67-year-old Black retired machine operator in Mobile, Alabama, lives in a state with some of the country's most restrictive voting rules. He did say, though, that the rules "work well" there. "All you have to do is show your ID and pull the lever."

Indeed, voter identification is the most popular among a number of voting reforms in the poll, with 70% of respondents needing photo identification before voting. Smaller majorities were in favor of automatic voter registration for eligible citizens and delivering mail ballots to all registered voters, two core Democratic demands. Republicans were 87% to 55% more inclined than Democrats to favor the voter ID law.

Moreover, the poll found that 69% of Americans believe that’s a major problem, with Democrats more likely than Republicans to say so, 80% to 58%. The GOP had great success in the prior round of redistricting and has pushed to lessen legal oversight of the once-a-decade drawing of legislative lines.

Just 32% of Black Americans say there has been significant progress in racial equality in voting rights since the civil rights era, compared with 52% of white Americans. Majorities of Black and white Americans say more needs to be done, but Black Americans are much more likely to say a lot more is needed, 57% to 29% of whites who feel that way.

Latinos, Blacks, Native Americans undercounted in census, again

Another poll revealed that the United States deprives its people of color of their basic rights through undercounting its black, Latin, and Native American population, leading to discrimination in terms of the allocation of federal funds.

The significance of these undercounts stems from the fact that they determine the amount of federal funds the government will allocate for these communities' schools, public housing, hospitals, Medicare, highway construction, and recreation centers. Accurate counts also affect these communities' political representation in Congress.