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@ISIDEWITHQuestionsElectionsStarted 9yrs agoActive 2hrs ago

Should the minimum voting age be lowered?

In 1971 the U.S. Congress ratified the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which prohibited states from allowing anyone under the age of 18 to vote. Before the amendment was passed the minimum voting age was 21 years of age. Support to lower the age of 18 was driven in part by the draft of the Vietnam War which conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 to join the armed forces. In 2021 U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) reintroduced legislation in the House of Representatives to lower the voting age in America to 16 years old. In order to pass the legislation would have to be ratified as a Constitutional Amendment.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 240k America voters.

16%
Yes
84%
No
12%
Yes
78%
No
4%
Yes, any citizen that pays taxes should be allowed to vote
4%
No, and voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote
2%
No, it should be raised

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 240k America voters.

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Trend of how important this issue is for 240k America voters.

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from America voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @96GLZPQ from North Carolina  answered…4yrs4Y

Yes, it should be lowered to 15 years of age and voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote.

 @8JSC4QS from Kansas  answered…6yrs6Y

No it should stay as it is.

 @8MLB4GS from Indiana  answered…6yrs6Y

Depends how much the person knows about politics

 @8HGQ6LM from Oklahoma  answered…6yrs6Y

No today's kids can't decide whether they are toaster or an oven

 @9S4HFH7 from Michigan  answered…2yrs2Y

Yes, but minors ages 14-17 should pass a test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote

 @9J3YL38 from Pennsylvania  answered…2yrs2Y

No, the voting age should be raised back to 21 and voters should be required to pass a test demonstrating their knowledge of politics to vote.

 @8RJVNTK from California  answered…5yrs5Y

No, but those under 18 should not be taxed

 @95CJ5F5from North Carolina  answered…4yrs4Y

Yes, it should be lowered to 15 and voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…1yr1Y

Biden bans new offshore oil drilling along most of US coastline

President Joe Biden announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline on Monday in a move designed to bolster his environmental and climate legacy as he prepares to leave office.The order will protect 625mn acres of ocean on the US east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the White House said on Monday.“My decision reflects what the coastal communities, business and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said.The executive action will not prevent oil and gas companies obtaining leases in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico, areas that produce almost 15 per cent of the nation’s oil supplies. Nevertheless, the move is expected to complicate the policy agenda of incoming president Donald Trump, who has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” and boost US oil production, even though it is already at a record level.The Trump transition team said it was a disgraceful decision designed to exact “political revenge on the American people” and the incoming president said he would immediately “unban” Biden’s prohibition on new offshore drilling.“I have the right to unban it immediately . . . we can’t let that happen to our country. It’s our greatest, it’s really our greatest economic asset,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview on Monday.Biden’s action will probably be challenged by the oil industry in court and face pushback from Republicans in Congress. But overturning the order could prove challenging and may require an act of Congress, according to legal experts.Biden is using his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, to protect the areas from drilling — the same mechanism which former president Barack Obama used previously to ban offshore drilling in some Arctic and Atlantic waters in 2016.In 2019, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by former president Donald Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was unlawful.

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