More Democrats and Independents Plan to Ditch Mail-In Ballots and Vote in Person in 2026 Midterms
by Lowell Cauffiel, Breitbart.com, September 20, 2026
An NBC News poll released Sunday shows registered Democrats shifting away from mail ballots for the 2026 midterms even as President Donald Trump continues to push ending mail-in voting. Among Democrats, 23 percent now say they plan to vote by mail — down from 34 percent at a similar mid-September point in 2024. That 11-point drop is the headline shift in the survey Breitbart is amplifying.
Where those votes are going: 36 percent of Democrats say they plan to vote early in person at an early-voting site — up 6 points from two years ago. Another 36 percent say they plan to vote in person at the polls on Election Day, roughly flat with 35 percent in 2024. Five percent say they are not sure how they would vote or are unlikely to vote at all. Put simply, about 72 percent of Democrats in this sample now intend to cast a ballot in person (early or Election Day), versus a much smaller mail share than in the prior midterm cycle window.
NBC notes Democrats have relied heavily on mail voting since the 2020 pandemic election. The poll was fielded September 11–15, 2026. On the evening of September 14, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Trump executive order that sought to impose new criteria for states sending out mail ballots for the midterms — so the survey straddles that Court action. Treat the Court block as timing context; the article does not claim the poll measured a reaction to that ruling alone.
Independents are also easing off mail. Twenty-five percent of independents said they would vote by mail this year, down three points from 28 percent in 2024. Twenty-eight percent said they would vote early in person, up from 22 percent. Thirty-seven percent said they would vote at their polling place on Election Day, down from 41 percent, with 15 percent unsure or unlikely to cast ballots.
Republicans look stable. NBC said GOP voters have remained consistent: 16 percent mail, 26 percent early in person, and 53 percent Election Day — all virtually unchanged from 2024.
Democrat pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, which conducted the poll with Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, framed the mode split for the congressional ballot: among early voters, Democrats have a 23-point advantage; among Election Day voters, Republicans have a 14-point advantage. Horwitt’s line, as quoted: if a blue wave comes in, it will hit land at different times, and even on different days or weeks. That is a pollster’s interpretive comment, not a forecast of a wave.
Method: 1,000 registered voters, September 11–15, mix of telephone interviews and online survey via text message; margin of error plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Figures are self-reported planned mode of voting, not certified turnout.
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