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

Voters Want the USPS Funded as an Essential Service
The Trump administration is launching an all-out assault of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in a blatant attempt to obstruct a fair election this November. But voters are having none of it.

In an August new survey, we asked voters ([link removed]) whether they see the USPS as an essential service that needs to be adequately funded, or as something that should be run like a business, cover its own costs, and compete with private companies like FedEx and UPS. A clear majority of voters — 58 percent — agreed with the progressive, i.e., that the USPS is an essential program, statement, while only 31 percent preferred the conservative statement, that the agency should be like a business.

We also asked voters how often they use the USPS, and the results demonstrate how essential it is to millions of Americans: more than half of voters have sent mail through the service in just the past two weeks.

Even voters who self-identify as Republicans are on board with making sure the USPS has the funds it needs. When asked whether they’d support investing $25 billion to update the USPS’ infrastructure — something that would directly contradict Trump’s efforts — a majority of Republicans (52 percent) said they supported the idea.

These results make it abundantly clear that legislators can defend the USPS and have the American public on their side.

Memo: Polling a Public Option for Health Insurance
Partially in response to the pandemic, and partially in response to pressure from progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democratic nominee for President Joe Biden is beefing up his public option plan. In a new memo ([link removed]) , we show that these upgrades are super popular.

For one, the Biden-Sanders task force recommendations included a promise to offer a public option that doesn’t have a deductible. Our polling finds that this has bipartisan support — Democrats support such a plan by a 55-percentage-point margin, and Republicans support it by a 20-point margin.

Biden’s plan also includes automatically enrolling millions of low-income Americans into the program. We find that a similar idea — automatically enrolling all uninsured Americans into the public option — is highly popular, with a 52-25 margin of support.

Perhaps most importantly, a plurality of Americans aren’t content with stopping at the public option — they want truly universal coverage. Thirty-six36 percent of voters believe that Biden’s plan should be merely a stepping stone to a more comprehensive plan, while 30 percent think it would be best for a public option to compete with private insurers.

A Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in the U.S.
Some of the U.S.’ best opportunities to harness wind energy are offshore — but right now, there are just two operational offshore wind facilities in the country.

In a new policy memo ([link removed]) , released yesterday in collaboration with Urban Ocean Lab and Evergreen Action, we lay out exactly what policies legislators can pursue to build offshore wind infrastructure. These include providing tax incentives, increasing efficiency in the permitting process, and creating a skilled, unionized workforce for offshore wind.

This was accompanied by a polling memo ([link removed]) , which shows that investing in offshore wind farms — like so many other climate policies — is a big political winner.

Perhaps most exciting is our Visualizing Offshore Wind maps ([link removed]) , which show in detail where offshore wind has the most potential. The map below shows that the coasts of northern California, Hawaii, and the northeastern United States could be offshore wind hotspots.

Sen. Jeff Merkley for the DFP Blog: Abolish the Filibuster
Defenders of the filibuster claim that it helps foster bipartisanship. On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley took to the DFP blog ([link removed]) to explain exactly why they’re wrong.

“Some senators still cling to the idea that a supermajority produces compromise. But the reality is that Mitch McConnell, when in the minority, has wielded it as a powerful partisan weapon,” he wrote. “If Republicans are willing to use simple majorities to take unprecedented measures to benefit the powerful few, we must be willing at the very least to use a simple majority to unrig elections and restore our democracy for the millions of ordinary families across the United States.”

Read Merkley’s full piece here! ([link removed])

Data Bytes
* Memo: The Case for Comprehensive Marijuana Reform: A few decades ago, a strong majority of Americans thought ([link removed]) that marijuana should be illegal. Not anymore.
In a brand new memo ([link removed]) , we show that a clear, bipartisan majority of voters — including 69 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans (!!) — think the federal government should legalize the use and sale of marijuana.

* Memo: Alternative Data and the Future of Credit Scoring: Credit scores are immensely important — they affect credit card, small business, and mortgage lending. But according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 45 million American adults are either “credit invisible” or “credit unscorable,” which causes them to be very frequently rejected by lenders.
There’s a way to help fix this problem: factoring “alternative data” like payments of rent, phone bills, and utilities into credit reports. This way, those with limited access to traditional forms of credit could still demonstrate fiscal responsibility based on their past successes at paying the bills on time.
In a new memo ([link removed]) , we outline policy recommendations for incorporating alternative data into credit scoring, and share polling to back it up: fifty-six56 percent of Americans support including utility, rent, and phone payments in credit reports, while just 28 percent oppose.

* Voters Oppose the Trump Administration’s NEPA Rollbacks: Last month, President Trump rolled back the National Environmental Policy Act, which required the federal government to review the environmental impact of public infrastructure projects.
Our polling shows ([link removed]) that voters aren’t buying Trump’s arguments that these cuts are good for the country — 49 percent oppose the rollbacks, while just 31 percent support.


From The Blog
Voters Oppose the Trump Administration’s NEPA Rollbacks ([link removed])
DFP Coronavirus Response Tracking Poll Week 18 ([link removed])
Biden’s Public Option is a BFD—and a Super-Popular One ([link removed])
Voters Want The USPS Funded As An Essential Service ([link removed])
President Obama Is Right: To Save Our Democracy, End the Senate Filibuster ([link removed])
What, If Anything, Would Make People Abandon Their Presidential Candidate in the Next Three Months? ([link removed])
Data for Progress Report on the State of the Race ([link removed])

Memos
Memo: Polling a Public Option for Health Insurance ([link removed])
Memo: Alternative Data and the Future of Credit Scoring ([link removed])
Memo: The Case for Comprehensive Marijuana Reform - Policies & Public Opinion ([link removed])
Memo: The Case for Same-Day Voter Registration ([link removed])
Memo: Advancing Offshore Wind Energy in the U.S. ([link removed])
Memo: Voters Support the Construction of New Offshore Wind Farms ([link removed])

Media Hits
Poll: Republicans Like Marijuana Legalization, Too (Even If It’s Kamala Harris’s Idea) ([link removed]) @Forbes
Climate Activists Expect Harris to Champion Environmental Justice ([link removed]) @The American Prospect
Ahead of Key House Vote, Polling Shows Bipartisan Majority of Americans Want More Funding for USPS ([link removed]) @Common Dreams
Democrats Connect Climate Change Spending With Job Creation ([link removed]) @Courthouse News Service

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