Voters Support Aid to States and Oppose Liability Shields
By Isa Alomran and Ethan Winter
Left out of the recently signed into law coronavirus relief package are two provisions that congressional Democrats and Republicans sparred over for months: first, providing billions of dollars in direct federal aid to states and local governments facing severe budget falls and, second, a provision guaranteeing federal liability protections for businesses against coronavirus related lawsuits.
The incoming Biden administration should make passing additional coronavirus-relief bill. The upcoming Senate runoff elections in Georgia will do considerable working in determining just how much Democrats will have to negotiate to pass such a package.
Federal aid to state and local governments would allow them to avoid austerity, meaning in less abstract terms, the cutting of essential services, laying off of public sector employees, and slashing of spending on education. In September, Data for Progress released a memo making the cause for federal assistance of state and local government and demonstrated the likely voters such as policy course. More recently, in another December survey, where we found significant voter support for aid to state and local governments over them declaring bankruptcy and renegotiating their debt.
Liability protections, meanwhile, championed by Republican lawmakers and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell especially, would provide business with legal protections against any coronavirus-related lawsuits, potentially allowing them to circumvent public health safety measures.
As part of a December survey, we sought to explore voter attitudes towards these two provisions. We find that likely voters support including a federal aid package in a coronavirus relief bill, and favor an economic reopening plan that emphasizes worker safety.
When asked to choose, a majority of likely voters prefer that the federal government provide aid to state and local governments in any new coronavirus relief bill over not providing any aid by a 52 point margin (73 percent for, 21 percent against). Support for aid to state and local governments extends across partisan lines: self-identifying Democrats and self identifying Republicans supporting it by margins of 84-points and 20 points, respectively. Self-identified Independents and Third party voters support this measure by a 43-point margin.
Moving to liability shields, we provided likely voters two options: first, if they want businesses to wait to fully reopen until safety of workers and customers can be assured, while continuing to operate in a more limited way or, second, that businesses should be shielded from liability now to allow for a full reopening immediately.
We find that, overwhelmingly, likely voters prefer the former to the latter option by a wide 22-point margin. Attitudes are correlated with partisanship: Democrats and Independents and Independents prefer waiting to reopen fully by a margin of 67-point and a 16-point, respectively. In contrast, Republican voters back an immediate reopening of business and their protection from coronavirus liability by a 30-point margin. There is also a fairly stark difference in opinions based on race. While both Black and white likely voters prefer not granting businesses liability shields, there is a 26-point gap.
This result is a test of messages and it is worth pausing to consider why this argument proves so successful in defeating messaging around liability shields. Concern over the coronavirus is high but there is also worry about economic shutdowns and financial hurt, especially in the absence of federal aid. This messaging works to thread that needle, rejecting Republican logic about the need for liability shields while also signaling that there is a middle ground, namely relying on safer options like curbside pickup. The offering of what can appear as a compromise position works to, mechanically, undermine that of the Republicans.
After President-elect Biden takes office, there should be another push for additional coronavirus relief, especially considering that the unemployment insurance program is set to sunset in March and April. This will offer Democrats and Republicans alike an opportunity to advance the aid for state and local governments and liability shields and when that happens, we should know that the former is popular while the latter is less so.
Isa Alomran is an intern at Data for Progress.
Ethan Winter is an analyst at Data for Progress.
Methodology
From December 16 to December 17, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1098 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3.0 percentage points.
Question Wording:
When thinking about congressional negotiations about a new coronavirus relief bill, which statement comes closer to your view, even if neither is exactly right?
The federal government should provide aid to local and state governments
The federal government should not provide aid to local and state governments
Don't know
When thinking about how Congress should respond to the coronavirus pandemic and the process of reopening the economy, what comes closer to your view?
Businesses should wait to reopen until they can be sure that it's safe for consumers, workers, and workers' families. This means businesses may need to provide a safer option for customers such as curbside delivery or pickup or remain closed entirely.
Businesses must reopen now and they should be shielded from legal liability, meaning they can't be held liable if one of their employees or customers gets the coronavirus.
Don't know