One in two Republicans think that people who don't pay anything in tax shouldn't have the right to vote
Tom Perkins, the controversial former venture capitalist and erstwhile romantic novelist, has made headlines recently with his proposal that people who don't earn enough to pay taxes shouldn't be allowed to vote. He also suggested that the number of votes someone receives be tied to the amount they pay in taxes.
The latest research from YouGov shows that half of Republicans (50%) think that people who don't pay anything in tax shouldn't have the right to vote, though 44% do think that even non-taxpayers should have the vote. Most Independents (57%) and Democrats (69%) say that the right to vote shouldn't be tied to whether or not someone has paid taxes. Overall, 34% of Americans support limiting voting to taxpayers, but most (58%) oppose it.
Denying the vote to people who don't pay taxes is the most popular of the potential changes to voter eligibility listed below, with 34% of Americans supporting it. Lowering the voting age to 16 did win some approval, though, with 13% of Americans backing the expansion of the electorate. 11% say that veterans should get more than one vote, while only 8% agree with Tom Perkins' idea that the number of votes someone gets should be tied to the amount they pay in taxes.
Tom Perkins first attracted attention for his comments earlier this month after he compared the treatment of the ultra-wealthy, and alleged anti-rich 'radicalism', to how the Nazis attacked Jews and destroyed Jewish property before the onset of the Holocaust. He has since apologized for these comments, made in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, though he stands by the sentiments behind them.
Full poll results can be found here.
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