Top Dems Scramble To Explain Why They’re On The Wrong Side Of Voter ID

Two top Democrats put in some extra effort to oppose voter identification initiatives — even as polling indicates that a broad majority of their own voters favor the policy.

Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joined ABC’s Jonathan Karl and CNN’s Dana Bah, respectively, to explain why they have continued to oppose a policy that has overwhelming support from both parties and across multiple demographics.

On “This Week,” Karl referenced a recent Pew Research Center poll in which 83% of respondents said they would support voter identification requirements — and that when broken down by party, 95% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats would support such measures.

“Is that something that you can support? And if not, why?” Karl asked.

“It’s still going to be something, Jonathan, it’s still going to be something that disenfranchises people that don’t have the proper Real ID, driver’s license ID that don’t have the ID necessary to vote even though they are citizens,” Schiff claimed. “This is another way to simply try to suppress the vote. And the last thing I think we want to do is discourage more people, more citizens from voting.”

A new Pew Research Center poll shows that 71% of Democrats are in favor of requiring photo ID to vote. Sen. Adam Schiff disagrees, telling ABC News’ @JonKarl that it is “another way to simply try to suppress the vote.” https://t.co/Sp8hHSWy8u pic.twitter.com/2sHLJlXXjL

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 8, 2026

On CNN’s “state of the Union,” Jeffries could easily have been reading from the same script as Schiff as he responded to a similar lines of questioning from anchor Dana Bash.

“I understand that you don’t support things like a passport, for example,” Bash began. “But requiring basic ID in order to vote is really popular. A Pew poll from a few months ago showed 83% of Americans, including 71% of your fellow Democrats, support requiring an ID to vote. Why are they wrong?”

House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls commonsense voter ID — which 83% of Americans support, including Democrats — “voter suppression.”

Why are Democrats against ensuring only Americans are voting in American elections? pic.twitter.com/JW7gKIRAN0

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2026

“I haven’t said that they’re wrong,” Jeffries insisted before explaining why he was still opposed to the measure. “We know that states are the ones that are empowered to conduct elections, and every state should be allowed to decide the best way to proceed to ensure that there’s a free and fair election.”

“The question is that — what Republicans are trying to do is to engage in clear and blatant voter suppression,” he added.

Neither one explained why it was “suppression” to require voters to have the same kind of identification already required for people who want to purchase alcohol or cigarettes, travel by air, open a bank account, pick up a prescription, or receive government benefits — among other things.