Poll: Majority of Americans say COVID-19 will disrupt November election

April 28 (UPI) -- Two-thirds of Americans believe it's very or somewhat likely that the coronavirus pandemic will disrupt the 2020 U.S. election in November, a Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday indicates.

The poll found that 44 percent believe it's somewhat likely the election will be disrupted, while 23 percent believe it's very likely. Split up by party, Democrats are more likely to believe the election will be disrupted (80 percent) than Republicans (50 percent).

Though the respondents believe the election will be disrupted by the pandemic, a majority -- 59 percent -- believe voting will be conducted fairly and accurately. Republicans are more confident in a fair election (75 percent) than Democrats (46 percent).

Seventy percent of Americans favor allowing any registered voter to vote by mail.

There's been a growing push by some politicians to allow vote-by-mail to encourage continued social distancing during the spread of COVID-19. Some states allow only those physically unable to vote in person -- the disabled and elderly -- to vote by mail.

Eighty-seven percent of Democrats favor voting by mail, while 49 percent of Republicans favor it.

Fifty-two percent of Americans favor vote-by-mail for all elections, an increase of 18 percentage points since 2018. And 69 percent somewhat or strongly favor automatically registering all eligible citizens to vote.

Meanwhile, 56 percent of Americans oppose automatically removing voters from registration lists if they haven't voted recently or confirmed their registration. Forty-two percent favor it, with 63 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of Democrats in support.

Pew surveyed 4,917 U.S. adults in April for the poll which has a 2.1 percent margin of error.