Poll Suggests Strong Republican Support for Nullification

A poll last fall reveals a majority of Republicans embrace nullification.

YouGov, a global professional research and consulting organization, completed a poll of 1,000 people asking, “Do you think that states should be allowed to ignore federal legislation which they consider unconstitutional.” Fifty-five percent of Republicans said, “Yes,” with only 24 percent responding in the negative.

Overall, nearly a third of those polled agreed with the question, with 44 percent saying no and 25 percent undecided. Only 12 percent of Democrats said states should be allowed to ignore unconstitutional laws.

“It would be interesting to see how those party line answers changed if a Republican was in office. It would probably be the other way around,” Tenth Amendment Center national communications director Mike Maharrey said.

Interestingly, a YouGov article highlighting the poll results described the surge of nullification interest as happening “in recent months,” mentioning only states ignoring federal gun laws, an effort led primarily by Republicans. The article failed to mention ignoring the Real ID Act (passed during the Bush Administration) and federal Marijuana laws, efforts generally supported by Democrats since the 1990’s.

So, why then do Democrats not like ignoring Federal Law when they clearly have used it in the recent past? Could it be because we have a Democrat president and US Senate, as Maharrey pointed out?

The article also failed to mention how the poll reflected a strong support for nullification among Independents (33 percent) than that of  the total respondents.

To find out how you can take action to stop federal overreach focusing on a variety of issues, visit our Action Center HERE.