Youngkin nailed it: Most want illegal immigrants banned from voting

When Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) last week ordered voter rolls cleaned of illegal migrants after discovering 6,000 on lists, he took a position that most voters, including 81% of Democrats and 73% of Hispanic voters, strongly support.

“This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue. Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines,” he said after signing an executive order.

Less than a week later, there is new evidence that most voters agree with his initiative and wish their state would conduct an audit of voter rolls to scrub them clean of illegal voters.

In the latest Rasmussen Reports survey shared with Secrets, 78% of likely voters wish that their states would clean up voter rolls.

What’s more, 85% said that only U.S. citizens should vote in elections, and that presumably also means local elections in which states have the leeway to let noncitizens vote, as they can in cities such as Washington, D.C.

Some 55% believe illegal immigrants are already voting in elections, including those they are not allowed to.

The federal government bans noncitizens from voting in federal elections, including for Congress and the president, but polls have shown that many believe illegal immigrants do vote in those elections.

Election integrity has become an important issue since the 2020 vote that put President Joe Biden into the Oval Office. Former President Donald Trump believes he was cheated of votes and lost the election as a result.

Several states, such as Virginia, have moved to pass commonsense voter rules, such as requiring identification. Democrats have fought those initiatives.

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Rasmussen said in its analysis, “Majorities of every political category — 87% of Republicans, 81% of Democrats and 86% of voters unaffiliated with either major party — say only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in U.S. elections.”

As with almost every issue today, Rasmussen said partisan politics have a role in how people feel about illegal immigrants voting. The analysis added, “President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters are least likely to think noncitizens are on the voter rolls. Among voters who ‘strongly approve’ of Biden’s job performance as president, only 21% consider it likely that noncitizens are illegally registered to vote in their state. By contrast, among those who ‘strongly disapprove’ of Biden’s performance, 94% believe it’s likely noncitizens are illegally registered to vote in their state.”