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FACT BRIEF

Is either major party pushing to lower the voting age to 16?

Sunday, September 20, 2020
By Christopher Hutton
This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
NO

In March 2019, the House of Representatives considered lowering the minimum voting age to 16 as part of a voting-rights reform bill. The measure failed, with 125 Democrats (and one Republican from Texas, Michael Burgess) supporting it, and 108 Democrats and all other Republicans against it.

The Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has expressed support for the idea. A few 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Andrew Yang, endorsed the idea, too. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not respond to a Washington Post survey on the subject during the primaries.

Overall public support for the idea appears weak. A 2019 poll for The Hill showed strong opposition to lowering the voting age to 16—with 89% of GOP respondents and 78% of Democrat respondents opposed.

Sources
US Congress: Amendment to HR1 lowering the voting age
US House of Representatives: Roll call results on voting age amendment
The Hill: Pelosi backs lowering voting age to 16
Washington Post: Where Democrats stand on lowering the voting age
The Hill: Americans overwhelmingly reject lowering voting age to 16
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.