Three out of four U.S. voters (76%) believe a person should be required to show photo identification at the polls before being allowed to vote, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 18% do not agree.

Ninety-two percent (92%) of Republican voters support a requirement for showing a photo ID, compared to 66% of Democrats. Seventy-three (73%) of unaffiliated voters think showing photo identification is a good idea, too.

A plurality (42%) believe it is more common for people to vote illegally than it is for legal voters to be denied that right. Thirty-three percent (33%) believe the opposite – that it is more likely that people are prevented from voting who should be allowed to do so. One-quarter of voters (25%) are not sure.

The partisan split on this and other questions is not surprising, given Democratic Party efforts to fight the imposition of photo ID requirements at the polls. Fifty-one percent (51%) of likely Obama voters think it is more common for legal voters to be denied the right to vote, but only 14% of likely McCain voters agree.

By comparison, 64% of would-be McCain voters say it is more likely for people to vote illegally. Twenty-three percent (23%) of likely Obama voters agree.

Ninety-eight percent (98%) – including 99% of likely McCain voters and 97% of those who plan to vote for Obama -- say they have never been illegally denied their right to vote. Just one percent (1%) say they have been denied illegally.

Eighty-six percent (86%) also agree that one person’s vote does matter. Just nine percent (9%) disagree.

In a similar survey two years ago, 77% of likely voters across the country said displaying a photo ID should be required to cast a vote.

Voter registration nationwide is on the upswing this year, thanks in part to large-scale efforts by activist groups to register the homeless, new citizens and others. These drives have driven complaints from Republicans that the groups are swamping local registrars with inadequately prepared forms that cannot possibly be checked in time for next month’s elections. In the most recent incident, state authorities in Nevada seized records from the activist group ACORN in Las Vegas on Tuesday, accusing it of submitting fraudulent voter-registration forms.

In a highly publicized case earlier this year the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a state law requiring voters to show a driver’s license with a photo before being allowed to vote. Democrats have challenged the law saying it discriminates against poor people who may not own cars.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the session that began this week is expected to consider whether state laws can require voters to show photo identification before voting, but the ruling will have no effect on this year’s elections.

Concerns also have been raised about the rise in usage of absentee ballots and whether the legality of those voters is checked closely enough.

Ninety-four percent (94%) of voters in the new survey say they have voted in previous presidential elections. Just four percent (4%) say they are new to the process. Six percent (6%) of likely Obama voters say they have not voted in previous presidential contests, compared to three percent (3%) of those who plan to vote for McCain.

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