Welcome back to the Data for Progress newsletter, your weekly update on our research, blog posts, and memes.

Voters Support the Economic Justice Act
Yesterday, Senate Democrats unveiled a massive stimulus plan that would invest $350 billion directly to those who need it most: communities of color. 

The Economic Justice Act would allocate $135 billion in immediate coronavirus relief in the form of childcare, mental health, and jobs, and build long-lasting wealth and health in communities of color by directing $215 billion towards infrastructure, housing assistance, and a Medicaid expansion. Better yet, more than half of it can be paid for with remaining CARES Act funding that had been earmarked for large corporations.

Can such a large investment that’s targeted specifically to communities of color get a majority of Americans behind it? Our polling says “yes.” We asked voters whether they’d support taking $200 billion allocated by the CARES Act to large corporations and reinvesting it in building high-speed internet for low-income, minority, and Native communities. Sixty percent supported the proposal.

A similar percentage of voters — 59 percent — support reinvesting the funds towards rebuilding and renovating K-12 schools, libraries, and minority-serving institutions.



More broadly, when asked to choose between investing in low-income communities and communities of color, or investing in “large job creating businesses,” 49 percent preferred the community investment while just 29 percent preferred the large business investment.


We Launched the CARES Act Bot
You may view the CARES Act as a piece of legislation, but our new CARES Act Bot is showing that it’s much more than that: it’s an essential layer of economic security for millions of Americans.

Using DFP polling, our bot is tweeting open ended responses about how CARES Act payments and unemployment benefits are helping Americans. Here are just a few examples:







Check out all the bot’s tweets here.


Joe Biden Moves Left on Climate, Voters Love to See It
On Tuesday, Joe Biden unveiled the most ambitious climate plan ever adopted by a Democratic nominee. The plan includes many key progressive proposals, including transitioning the economy to 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, a commitment to targeting 40 percent of climate investments to frontline communities, and creating a Climate Conservation Corps, a proposal Governor of Washington Jay Inslee made the case for on the DFP blog.

Although the plan isn't perfect, it’s a big win for climate activists and progressive organizations like Data for Progress. To little surprise, DFP polling finds that these plans are immensely popular — including with battleground voters:



As we write on our blog: “When it comes to perhaps the greatest existential emergency ever faced by humanity — a crisis that will be measured by the extinction of species, the jarring laneswitch in geological epochs and the course of planetary history — Democrats are nearing unanimous consensus: big, bold and just things must be done.”


Voters Support Postal Banking
One in four Americans is unbanked or underbanked, meaning they don’t have access to traditional financial services like checking and savings accounts and low-cost loans. This forces many Americans — especially Black and Latinx Americans, according to our surveys — to rely on precarious (and expensive) modes of finance like predatory payday loans and check cashing.



Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has a plan to fix that — and it’s extremely popular. On our blog, Gillibrand makes the case for her Postal Banking Act, which would create a non-profit bank that could be accessed at every post office in the U.S. This would both help marginalized Americans access critical financial services and strengthen the USPS.

Our polling finds that 74 percent of Americans — including clear majorities of independents and Republicans — support this proposal, while 25 percent oppose.




Data Bytes

• Candace Valenzuela Wins Texas Runoff: On July 9, our surveys showed that Texas candidate Candace Valenzuela had a 40-29 lead over challenger Kim Olson. Our polling was right: Valenzuela won the nomination — and if she wins in November, she’d be the first Afro-Latina elected to Congress.
  
  Check out Valenzuela’s piece on our blog, which explains how big money in politics harms progressive women of color and why campaign finance reform is so important.
   

• GOP Senators Could Pay the Price for Opposing Coronavirus Relief: In a new poll, we show that Americans’ support for the HEROES Act extends to their voting preferences — 57 percent said that they’d be more likely to support a senator or senate candidate if they supported the HEROES Act. That’s bad news for Senate Republicans.
  
  
  
  Thanks to the Huffington Post for covering these findings.
   

• Trump’s Approval Rating for Handling the Coronavirus Has Plummeted: Our coronavirus response tracking poll is on its 13th week, and our latest finding is that Americans really disapprove of how Trump has handled the pandemic. While approval ratings for both Joe Biden and the CDC remained steady from June 23 to July 7, Trump’s dropped by double digits from -5 percent to -16 percent.
  
  

From The Blog
DFP Coronavirus Response Tracking Poll Week 13
Announcing The Launch Of The CARES Act Bot
Voters Support Postal Banking
Joe Biden Moves Left on Climate, Voters Love To See It
Black Women Best


Memos
Memo: A Majority of Voters Support an End to Extreme Sentences for Children
Memo: The Case for Overdose Prevention Programs in California - Policies & Polling
Memo: The Case for Postal Banking
Memo: Police Misconduct Records Should Be Public - Policies & Polling
Memo: Battleground Poll Results of Independents


Media Hits
Protests Against Policing Could Help Make Formerly Homeless Candace Valenzuela the First Afro-Latina in Congress @The Intercept
GOP Senators Could Pay Political Price For Opposing Coronavirus Relief, Poll Finds @Huffington Post
'A Winning Issue' for 2020: Polling Shows Strong Support for Bold Climate Policies @Common Dreams
Joe Biden Unveils $2 Trillion Climate And Infrastructure Plan @Newsy
The McGirt Case Is a Historic Win for Tribes @The Atlantic
Joe Biden’s new climate plan @Grist
Memo: Democrats Should Go on Offense on Climate in 2020 @Climate Power


Donate
Give us money. No, seriously, give us money.