The inevitable result of the Supreme Court's decision that in-person primary voting proceed in Wisconsin on April 7 is now happening, and voters are being diagnosed with coronavirus. That single event has crystallized an issue for all Americans: we need vote-by-mail.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows a remarkable 67% of voters saying that November's election needs to be conducted by mail. Just 29% are opposed to the idea. What's more, 58% of the respondents say vote-by-mail should be permanent for all eligible voters, with 39% opposing. That's even more impetus, if Democrats need it, for fighting hard for the next tranche of coronavirus stimulus spending to include the funding to both save the Postal Service and fund the states to implement it.
That echoes polling from earlier in the month that found 72% support holding this fall's election by mail. That poll didn't ask about support for making the change permanent. It also reinforces the most recent Daily Kos/Civiqs poll that found majority support—52%—for requiring that states implement vote-by-mail for November's election.
A Harvard and Harris Insights and Analytics survey also found support for the program—a big 72% support conducting November's election by mail. There's partisanship in this question; Democrats support it in every poll at a much higher percentage than Republicans, but there is still at least support from Republicans in most of these polls. Of course, they tend to think only Republicans should be able to do it.
There's clearly no question that this is something the American people want. What is in question is whether Democratic leadership is going to go to the mat for it in the next big spending bill.