Fewer Democrats planning to cast mail-in ballots in midterms: Survey

More Democrats plan to vote in person as President Trump ramps up his attacks on casting mail-in ballots, according to a new poll released Sunday.

NBC News’s latest poll shows that 36 percent of registered Democratic voters plan to cast their ballots in person at an early voting site, a 6-point increase from this point in 2024. Another 36 percent say they will vote at a polling site on Election Day, 1 point higher than it was two years ago. Five percent say they are not yet sure how they will vote or are unlikely to vote at all.

The poll also found that 23 percent of Democrats say they will mail their ballots in the November midterm elections, down from the 34 percent who said the same this time in 2024.

While NBC News conducted its work to compile the poll, the Supreme Court last week blocked Trump’s executive order to impose new criteria through the U.S. Postal Service on mail-in voting ahead of the midterms.

Fewer independents say they will vote by mail in the midterms, at 20 percent compared with 28 percent in 2024. Twenty-eight percent also said they will vote early but in person, a 6-point increase from two years ago. More independents, 37 percent, say they will vote on Election Day, while 15 percent say they are not sure or likely won’t vote.

NBC News pollsters found virtually no changes with how Republicans plan to vote this year compared with the last general election. Sixteen percent say they will vote by mail, 26 percent say they will vote in person and 53 percent will vote on Election Day.

Democrats are not discouraging voters from casting ballots by mail, but Democratic and progressive groups are urging voters to cast their ballots early and in person amid Trump’s attacks and false claims of voter fraud and election rigging, the outlet reported .

Progressives are concerned that even with the hold on implementing the president’s plans for mail-in voting, news about the criteria could create confusion among voters. Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Jane Kleeb told NBC News that the party is “really pushing” for people to vote early.

“Vote early in person. Go to your county election office and vote early in person,” she said voters have been told. “And that this is the best way that we can get Democrats elected is if you vote early in person.”

Trump critics hailed the court’s ruling, with Democrats describing the president’s plan as likely to result in chaos. Kristen Clarke, general counsel for the NAACP, told The Hill’s The Gavel last week that Trump’s plan would have been “simply catastrophic.”

The NBC News survey was conducted Sept. 11-15 and included 1,000 respondents. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.