Strong majorities of Americans support allowing assistance to be provided to those with long waits to vote, with the notable exception of providing campaign literature. 

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Key Findings

• Nearly half of Americans say that waiting to vote more than 30 minutes is unacceptable.
  • 24% of Republicans and Independents indicate that “any wait time, even more than three hours, is acceptable,” compared with only 8% of Democrats.
• Half of American adults say they definitely would vote even if wait times reach 90 minutes or more.
  • Long wait times would likely discourage 30% of American adults from voting, including even higher proportions of women, Black and Latino voters, those with less education, those with lower incomes, and political independents.
• Strong majorities of Americans support allowing community groups to provide assistance to those waiting over an hour to vote, including:
  • Holding a place in line for elderly and disabled citizens until they reach the polling place (86%),
  • Providing bottled water to citizens waiting to vote (84%),
  • Providing food to citizens waiting to vote (71%), and
  • Distributing non-partisan voter guides (62%).
• These provisions are supported by majorities within a wide variety of demographic groups: men and women, younger to older adults, various racial and ethnic groups, those with higher and lower education and income, and all regions of the nation.
• Across all these forms of assistance, a higher proportion are supported by Democrats than Republicans.
• Some of the reasons given for allowing the distribution of food or water to those waiting in line to vote include:
  • “If the wait is so long, it should be allowed. Voting should not be discouraged at any time. Otherwise, we have failed as a democratic nation.”
  • Diabetics, elderly or pregnant persons may feel ill without food or water. Better yet, voting by mail should be allowed for everyone.”
  • “It’s just humane.”
• A strong majority of Americans thinks the distribution of campaign literature to those waiting to vote should be prohibited (68%).
• Those who oppose allowing the distribution of food or water to those waiting in line to vote stated reasons including: 
  • “Because some people will take it the wrong way as if someone [is] getting paid to vote.”
  • Bottled water is plentiful. Citizens can easily bring their own bottled water. Voting citizens should not be treated like incapable children.”
  • “It is not a party and you should not have to be fed while doing it.”