A Change Research national survey of 1,541 registered voters, conducted March 8 to 12, 2026, finds that where Americans live shapes how they feel about elections. Confidence in vote-counting, perceptions of redistricting, and the practical burden of proposed citizenship documentation requirements all vary meaningfully across the Midwest, Northeast, South, and West.
The survey was conducted against the backdrop of active debate in Washington over election administration. In February 2026, the House passed the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. The bill has not yet been taken up by the Senate. At the same time, questions about redistricting and voter access remain active across several states heading into the November midterms.
Regional Confidence in State Elections
Confidence in how a voter’s own state will count ballots is relatively strong across all four regions, but the Midwest leads the pack. Sixty-three percent of Midwestern voters say they are confident that votes in November’s congressional election will be counted accurately in their state, compared to 59% in the South, 56% in the Northeast, and 54% in the West.
The gap widens when voters are asked about the national picture. The Northeast stands out as the most skeptical region: 62% of Northeastern voters say they are not confident that votes will be counted accurately nationwide. The Midwest is more evenly split on the national question, with 48% not confident. The South sits at 53% not confident, and the West at 44%.
Confidence in Specific Places
When we ask voters about confidence in specific types of communities, the regional picture sharpens considerably. The South expresses the highest confidence in rural vote counts of any region, with 81% confident in those communities. The Northeast (74%) and West (66%) follow, with the Midwest at 61%.
Big-city confidence tells a different story. The Northeast (29% confident, 66% not confident) and South (32% confident, 65% not confident) are the most skeptical about vote counts in cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. The divergence is striking, given that those regions have very different political characters: skepticism in the Northeast likely reflects partisan distrust from conservative voters, while skepticism in the South reflects similar dynamics among a largely Republican electorate outside major metros. The Midwest is more evenly split on big-city confidence, with 42% confident and 52% not confident.
Confidence in the vote counts of blue-leaning states like Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and California follows predictable partisan lines across geography. Suburban (55% confident) and urban (55% confident) voters are notably more trusting of those states than rural voters (42% confident). The Northeast itself shows only 36% confidence in those states, likely reflecting the concentration of Republicans and independents within the region’s sample.
Personal Voting Confidence by Region
We also asked voters how confident they feel about their own ability to cast a ballot in November compared to previous elections. The South stands apart here: 34% of Southern voters say they feel more confident than before, the highest share of any region. That figure compares to 26% in both the Midwest and West, and just 19% in the Northeast.
At the same time, less confidence is concentrated in the Northeast and West. Eighteen percent of Western voters and 17% of Northeastern voters say they feel less confident than before, compared to 13% in the South.
Citizenship Documentation Requirements
We described proposed requirements under which voters would need to provide documents like a passport or birth certificate when registering to vote, with names required to exactly match current ID. Given those conditions, the Midwest shows the highest rate of reported difficulty. A combined 23% of Midwestern voters say it would be somewhat or very difficult to provide what is needed, compared to 19% in both the Northeast and South, and 16% in the West.
The West’s lower difficulty rate may partly reflect a higher share of voters who already have the required documentation readily available. Still, at the regional level, Midwestern voters are notably more likely to say the requirements would pose practical challenges.
Redistricting Perceptions
We asked voters whether they believe the congressional district they currently live in was drawn fairly, regardless of which party they support. The Midwest leads, with 53% saying yes, followed by the Northeast (44%), the West (42%), and the South (38%).
Outright skepticism is highest in the Northeast and West, where 31% and 30% of voters respectively say their district was not drawn fairly. The South tells a slightly different story: while only 38% say their district was drawn fairly, a large share (36%) are not sure, suggesting unfamiliarity with redistricting as much as distrust of it.
By community type, urban voters are the most skeptical of redistricting outcomes. Thirty-two percent of urban voters say their district was not drawn fairly, compared to 25% of both suburban and rural voters.
What Voters Are Focused On
Regional variation is also evident in the issues voters name as politically most important. Government corruption is one of the top issues in every region, but it is most prominent in the Northeast, where 43% of voters name it as one of their top three priorities. The South is close behind at 39%, followed by the Midwest (38%) and the West (34%).
Immigration and border security is a higher priority in the Northeast, South, and West (each at 24%) than in the Midwest (18%). Election integrity as a standalone issue is cited by a higher share of Midwestern voters (21%) than in other regions, where it ranges from 15% to 16%.
By community type, housing costs track closely with density: suburban voters are most likely to name housing as a top issue (21%), compared to 14% of rural voters and 14% of urban voters. The cost of living and inflation remain broadly distributed concerns across all community types.
The regional variation documented here reflects a wider national picture of uneven confidence in elections. For topline results and demographic breakdowns across the full sample, see the companion national analysis here.
Methodology
Change Research conducted this survey of 1,541 registered voters from March 8 to 12, 2026. The modeled margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. Regional subgroup samples are smaller; the Northeast (n=124), South (n=87), and West (n=139) carry wider margins of error and findings for those groups should be interpreted with appropriate caution.
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