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Welcome back to the Data for Progress newsletter, your weekly update on our research, blog posts, and memos.
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This past week was one of the most action-packed in Data for Progress history — from our political director elbowing with Chuck Schumer to President Biden citing our polling in a meeting with House Democrats to help pass the stimulus. Here are the highlights:
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President Biden cited our polling to urge House Dems to go big on stimulus. Data for Progress is only three years old, and we could have never imagined that by 2021 the President of the United States would be using our polling to push for a $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
Politico reported yesterday that during a Wednesday call with House Democrats, Biden used DFP data to make the case for his stimulus proposal. “The think tank, Data for Progress, may not have been in existence when Biden was vice president, but it’s become a mainstay for activists and lawmakers on the left,” Politico wrote. “That its work product was shown love by the most establishment of Democrats did not go unnoticed.”
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We showed that Texas voters want Ted Cruz out of office, and it’s generating a lot of buzz. Our polling finds that a majority of Texas voters (51 percent), including 52 percent of Texas Independents, want Cruz to resign following his role in inciting the January 6th insurrection. And these results are getting a lot of attention:
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Our political director elbowed Chuck Schumer. On Sunday, DFP’s Marcela Mulholland spoke about the urgency of clean energy jobs at a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Not only did Schumer call her “hip,” but they got this gem of a photo:
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Chuck Schumer used our blog to push for the Child Tax Credit expansion. When he’s not elbow-bumping with Marcela, Schumer is using our blog as his platform of choice to push for expanded benefits for families. In a new piece, he and Rep. Ritchie Torres break down the importance of making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable and raising its benefits to $3,000 per child and $3,600 for children under 6.
“To put these changes into context, under current law a single mother — with a 7-year-old son — who works as a part-time home care aide earning $9,000 annually would receive a Child Tax Credit of $975,” Schumer and Torres wrote. “However, under President Biden’s proposal, she would receive $3,000 for her child, an increase of $2,025 for her family.”
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We showed voters want a big stimulus even if it lacks bipartisan support. Our polling shows that a majority of voters (55 percent) would prefer a big coronavirus relief bill supported only by Democrats than a smaller bill with bipartisan support.
In terms of specific stimulus provisions, Crooked published a fantastic piece showing overwhelming support — at least 70 percent — for extending unemployment benefits, $1,400 checks, boosted state and local government funding, and the proposed Child Tax Credit expansion.
Also important is extending unemployment benefits to gig workers. This week, regular Data for Progress columnist Sen. Ron Wyden returned to the blog to push for that.
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The stimulus can’t just be big — it also has to be inclusive. Americans with mixed immigration status were left out of the CARES Act passed last March, but our polling, shared in Vox, finds 64 percent support for sending stimulus checks to any U.S. citizen or green card holder. We also find that 65 percent of voters support creating a pathway to citizenship for frontline workers who entered the U.S. as children as part of the next relief bill.
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Nobody likes red tape, right? Actually, when it comes to the environment, they do. We released a new memo with the Center for Progressive Reform showing 74 percent support for federal regulations to limit water pollution and 68 percent support for limiting air pollution.
And check out our new joint report with Evergreen Action laying out the roadmap for a 100% clean electricity standard by 2035.
- We released a comprehensive report on U.S.-China climate cooperation. The U.S. and China are the world’s top two contributors to climate change, together accounting for 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. On Tuesday, we released a new interactive project with Asia Policy revealing a lot of interesting findings, including 61 percent voter support for the U.S. taking ambitious climate action even if China doesn’t. Our findings were shared in a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs press briefing in Beijing yesterday.
Check out this coverage of our report in Foreign Policy, co-written by our VP of policy and strategy Julian Brave NoiseCat.
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