Jesse Watters endorses a civics test requirement for voting
Published
Citation From the August 10, 2023, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
JESSE WATTERS (HOST): Thanks to the 26 amendment, it means that you got the right to vote. But Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy isn't so sure 18-year-olds are ready for that kind of responsibility. He's proposing a constitutional amendment that would make 18 to 24-year-olds pass a civics test before they have the right to vote.
...
WATTERS: Alright, Vivek. Is this a real proposal? Because a constitutional amendment, it's kind of tough to get through.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY (GUEST): I think this is a moment for national unity, Jesse. And this is not a Republican idea or a Democratic idea, it is addressing a crisis of national pride in our country. Sixty percent of young Americans now say that they would sooner give up their right to vote than to give up their access to TikTok. This is a crisis.
Young people do not value a country they're just passively inheriting. We value a country that we have a stake in creating, in building, in knowing something about. And so yes, I want to revive citizenship. I want to revive civic duty. We ask immigrants to pass that test for a reason, that's a good thing. Every 18-year-old in this country should have to know the same thing that an immigrant does too. That will revive our civic spirit and is part of a broader nationalist vision, if I may say it Jesse --
WATTERS: I agree with you 1000 percent, Vivek.