DC Voting Rights A Survey of AARP Members

DC Voting Rights A Survey of AARP Members

AARP Member Opinion Research

This and Related Reports

Report Home Under the Constitution, Congress has exclusive legislative authority over the District of Columbia’s government and 600,000 residents. District citizens were granted the right to vote in presidential elections in 1961, and limited Congressional representation in 1993. Since 1974, DC residents have been able to elect a limited home rule government that is paid for mostly through local taxes. While they pay federal and local taxes, and serve in the armed forces, District residents do not have full voting representation in Congress. To learn how AARP members across the country feel about DC’s lack of voting representation, AARP District of Columbia commissioned this survey which found that: 64 percent support giving District residents voting rights in Congress
62 percent are unaware that DC residents currently do not have full voting representation in Congress
61 percent are aware that District residents pay federal income taxes Most agreed that the following arguments are convincing reasons for supporting DC voting rights: DC is a community like other American communities (86 percent)
Taxation without representation is wrong (80 percent)
Denial of democracy to DC citizens reflects poorly on all Americans (79 percent) The nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 AARP members, excluding those in DC, was conducted by Woelfel Research for AARP in July 2006. Respondents described themselves as conservative (40 percent), moderate (31 percent) or liberal (15 percent). Further information about the survey may be obtained by contacting the report’s author, Erica Dinger, at 202-434-6176. (13 pages) Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures

Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.