---
title: "Filibuster Proof"
description: "Just a quarter of Americans know it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate."
date: "2010-02-02"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2010/02/02/filibuster-proof/"
---

# Filibuster Proof

Despite all the attention paid to the 60th vote in the U.S. Senate, very few Americans seem to know what the hullabaloo is about. Only 26% correctly say that it requires 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate, and therefore bring a bill to the floor so it can be voted on. Roughly as many Americans (25%) believe it requires only a majority (51) while 12% think it takes 67 (7%) or 75 (5%) Senate votes. Fully 37% offered that they did not know. Neither side of the political divide scores well on the filibuster question; just 30% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats are knowledgeable about the 60-vote rule. This may be because most Americans, despite reporting interest in the health care debate, aren’t following the votes all that closely. Just a third (32%) of Americans know that no Republicans voted for health care reform in the Senate. A similar percentage thought the bill had more GOP support; 13% said 5 Republicans had voted for reform and a respective 8% said the bill got 10 or 20 GOP votes. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/1478/political-iq-quiz-knowledge-filibuster-debt-colbert-steele)