Around two-thirds of adults in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom say it is important for their national government to make voting compulsory for all citizens. But views in the United States are much more divided, according to Pew surveys conducted in the fall of 2020.
Among the four countries, mandatory voting is most popular in Germany, where 66% of adults say it is important for the government to require all citizens to vote, including 43% who say it is very important. Adults in France and the UK show similar support for such a policy.
In the U.S., opinion is about evenly split. 51% of Americans say it is important to make voting mandatory for all citizens, while 48% say it is not. There is a stark partisan divide in Americans’ views, with Democrats much more likely to be in favor of mandatory voting.
In all four countries surveyed, women are more likely than men to say it is important for the government to require all citizens to vote.
