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Voters Support a Response to the Coronavirus that Meets the Scale of the Crisis
In a new memo on the COVID-19 pandemic, released in partnership with Oxfam, we show that Americans support actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic that are swift, bold, and well beyond what Congress has thus far been willing to approve.
In our survey, conducted from March 16 to 17, we found that an overwhelming majority of Americans support free testing for every American (88 percent support, 7 percent oppose) and free testing, medication, and vaccination for every American (86 percent support, 7 percent oppose). Both had majority support from Democrats, independents, and Republicans. Margins this unanimous are difficult to find on any issue, and these numbers are significantly higher than our poll from less than a week earlier.
We also found strong, bipartisan support — 82 percent support, 10 percent oppose — for giving all American workers two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid medical leave. Given that sick pay has slowed the spread of epidemics in the past, this is a highly important finding.
A strong majority of Americans also support each of the following proposals:
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Implementing an immediate moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shutoffs (85 percent support, 7 percent oppose)
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Providing free food to kids whose schools have been closed due to the coronavirus (82-10)
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Providing enhanced unemployment insurance, including an additional 26 weeks of benefits for states and territories facing high unemployment (79-12)
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Increasing Medicaid funding in all states and territories (77-13)
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Giving every American a one-time cash payment of $3,000 per family of four (67-20)
Memo: Warren’s Bailout Conditions Are Both Necessary and Popular
Last Monday, Elizabeth Warren proposed eight conditions that companies would have to accept as preconditions for accepting federal bailout money. Our polling finds that all eight have majority or plurality support among voters:
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Bailed out firms must maintain payrolls and use the federal funding to keep people working (74 percent support, 11 percent oppose)
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CEOs face criminal penalties for violating the rules (64-13)
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Corporate boards must get shareholder approval for all political spending (61-12)
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Three-year ban on companies paying out dividends or executive bonuses while they receive federal funds (62-16)
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Collective bargaining agreements must remain in place (52-13)
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Businesses must provide at least one seat to workers on their board of directors (51-17)
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Must provide $15 an hour minimum wage by year-end (54-27)
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Companies would be permanently banned from stock buybacks (36-16)
Memo: Fighting the Coronavirus with Decarceration
According to The Hill, at least 21 inmates and 17 workers at Rikers Island jail complex in New York City now have the coronavirus. The crowded, confined spaces and unsanitary conditions of America’s prisons and jails put inmates at an acute risk of contracting the virus.
In a new memo released on Thursday with The Justice Collaborative, we show that 56 percent of Americans support releasing people from jails and prisons who are within six months of completing their sentence in order to reduce coronavirus transmission. Just 32 percent oppose.
Furthermore, Americans support releasing those whose offense does not pose a serious physical safety risk to the community by a 52-33 margin.
A Green New Deal for City and Suburban Transportation
In a new memo released on Tuesday in collaboration with the McHarg Center, TransitCenter, Transportation for America, Smart Growth America, and (SC)2, we demonstrate that our transportation system is broken, but Americans support an environmentally sustainable plan to fix it.
Currently, less than 10 percent of Americans are within walking distance of frequent transit, largely because the overwhelming majority of federal transportation spending is allocated for roads. This places the U.S. well behind nations like Canada. Check out the maps below, which show public networks of rail and bus service that run at least every 30 minutes, until midnight, seven days a week:
A Green New Deal for City and Suburban Transportation would reduce emissions and car crashes while increasing Americans’ access to convenient public transportation options.
Our memo lays out an in-depth policy platform including prioritizing roadway maintenance over expansion, incentivizing communities to build transit-friendly streets, creating an EV incentive program, and putting the majority of Americans within walking distance of frequent, high-quality public transit by 2030.
It’s a difficult transition, but Americans are on board. 79 percent of voters think that agencies should be required to fix the roads we have before building new ones, and 61 percent support an outright moratorium on new road building.
Read our comprehensive, 26-page memo here.
Memo: Green Industrial Policy for Domestic and Global Climate Justice is Popular
With the global economy in turmoil, we have an unparalleled opportunity to stimulate the economy with a massive investment in green technology. In a new memo, we show that consistent with the Green New Deal overall, a green industrial policy agenda is highly popular.
During the 2008-09 debate over the stimulus, President Obama’s advisers believed that it was essential to keep proposed spending under $1 trillion to avoid a groundswell of political opposition. But our survey found that after hearing arguments from both sides, a majority of voters — 51 percent — support a trillion-dollar investment in green technology, while 35 percent oppose. This includes a plurality of voters from every gender, age, education, race, and party group we tested, except for Republicans.
Voters are even more supportive of some specific forms of investment. At least 70 percent of voters support renewable energy and smart grid technology investments. More than 60 percent support investing in battery technology, electric buses, and retrofitting buildings (with a focus on low-income housing). And more than 50 percent support investing in underground transmission and electric vans and trucks.
We also asked voters about fair trade policy, which is an important aspect of the Green New Deal given reports that mining and manufacturing of green technologies can encourage pollution and low wages in the Global South. For both proposals we tested — one to require American trade agreements to respect labor and indigenous rights, and the other to share American technology with poor countries — a majority of Americans were in support.
Based largely on these findings, some senior fellows and members of our policy team co-authored a Green Stimulus Proposal on Sunday, which calls on Congress to stimulate the economy with a $2 trillion, 10-year investment to create green jobs, accelerate a just transition off fossil fuels, and ensure a controlling stake for the public in all private-sector bailout plans. Our polling finds that this proposal has 49 percent support and 29 percent opposition nationwide.
Data Bytes
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The Public Thinks Members of Congress Shouldn’t Be Able to Own Individual Stocks: On Thursday evening, ProPublica reported that Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) dumped up to $1.7 million in stocks he likely knew were about to lose value in advance of the coronavirus-induced stock market crash. Despite his private concerns, however, he publicly reassured Americans that the government had the situation under control as late as March 5th.
Surprising as it may seem, it’s unclear whether Burr broke any laws. But what is clear is that the public thinks this sort of behavior should be illegal. In a December 2019 survey, we found that 52 percent of Americans support a proposal to ban members of Congress from holding individual stocks, while 24 percent of respondents opposed it.
In response to this news, we immediately conducted a poll through an online panel of 452 likely voters in North Carolina asking whether Burr should resign for his actions. A majority — 50 percent — agreed that Burr should resign (!!), while 26.6 percent disagreed.
Thanks to Ben Jacobs for covering the crosstabs from our polling for GEN.
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Voters Want the Government to Send Everyone $1,000: In a new poll released Thursday, we show that there’s been a massive growth in support for sending a $1,000 check to all Americans if there’s a rapid increase in unemployment. While the proposal was not popular just a few weeks ago — it received 33 percent support and 48 percent opposition on March 2 — its popularity has skyrocketed to 58 percent support and 26 percent opposition on March 17.
And in a separate blog post that dropped on Saturday, we show that when asked whether they’d prefer $1,000 monthly checks to all Americans, $2,000 monthly checks, or no checks at all, 51 percent of voters preferred the $2,000 option. 36 percent thought $1,000 would be the right amount, while just 4 percent thought the government shouldn’t send Americans any money.
In the same post, we show that by a whopping 94 percent margin, voters believe the stimulus should be sent directly to Americans, rather than large corporations (97-3).
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Americans Want to Vote By Mail: In a brand new poll released on Friday by Crooked, we show that Americans overwhelmingly support automatically registering and enrolling all eligible voters to have the option of voting by mail — a policy that would allow people to cast their ballots without putting their lives at risk. 55 percent of respondents supported the proposal, while 25 percent opposed it.
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Party Membership is an Important Piece of Many Voters’ Identity: On February 21, Bernie Sanders set off a firestorm online when he tweeted: “I’ve got news for the Republican establishment. I’ve got news for the Democratic establishment. They can’t stop us.”
While this episode itself is somewhat silly, it raises a question about the ways in which Democratic voters will respond to criticism of the party itself. In a recent survey, we asked both Biden supporters and Sanders supporters how important being a Democrat is to their personal identity. We found that for supporters of both candidates, being a Democrat forms a significant part of their identity — 81 percent for voters overall, 85 percent for Biden voters, and 72 percent for Sanders voters.
Sanders’ ability to win the support of people with only loose ties to the Democratic Party can be a strength, as it can increase his crossover appeal to younger voters and independents, but in excess, being overly combative with the Democratic establishment can create weaknesses with groups with a strong Democratic identity, such as older black Democrats.
From The Blog
Party Membership is an Important Piece of Many Voters’ Identity
Government Should Take Action To Make COVID Treatment Free
Voters Want the Government to Send Everyone $1,000
The Public Thinks Members of Congress Shouldn’t Be Able to Own Individual Stocks
North Carolina Voters Want Burr to Resign
The Case for a Green Stimulus
Voters Support a Robust Monthly Cash Payment
Voters Want a Green Stimulus
On Economic Stimulus, Voters Want To Go Big And Stay Home
Media Hits
The Public Wants to Vote by Mail; Congress Must Listed @Crooked
New Report: Poll Shows Strong Cross-Ideological Support for Dramatically Reducing Jail and Prison Populations to Slow the Spread of Coronavirus @The Justice Collaborative
A Green New Deal for Transportation @Transportation for America
New Poll Highlights Support for Aggressive COVID Response @Oxfam America
Stacey Abrams Is Joe Biden’s Strongest Running-Mate Prospect, Poll Finds @New York Magazine
New Polling Shows Widespread US Public Support for Paid Sick Leave, Medicare for All to Fight Coronavirus @Common Dreams
Transit is in trouble due to coronavirus. This Green New Deal plan could help. @Curbed
Richard Burr Just Made Himself an Easy Villain in the Coronavirus Crisis @GEN
1,000 reasons not to lose every shred of hope @Grist
Public Transit Is the Way to a Green New Deal @Gizmodo
Energy and Policy Experts Have a Plan to Fight Covid-19 and the Climate Crisis @Gizmodo
A Green Stimulus to Rebuild Our Economy @Green Stimulus Proposal
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