Voters Support Coronavirus Aid for Mixed-Status Families

By Isa Alomran

Today, Data for Progress released new polling showing that 55% of Americans support Congress’ recent action to provide direct aid to U.S. citizens and green card holders who are a part of mixed-status households. These provisions, included in the recently passed coronavirus relief bill, make citizens and green card holders who pay taxes eligible for $600 in direct stimulus aid and $600 per child— even if they filed a joint tax return with an undocumented spouse. They are also retroactively eligible for CARES Act payments, which include the $1200 stimulus checks. 

National voters were asked whether these provisions were the right or wrong thing to do after being presented with information about the bill: “As part of a recently passed coronavirus-relief package, Congress voted that U.S. citizens and green card holders will be able to receive $600 in direct aid, even if they filed a joint tax return with an undocumented spouse, as well as additional $600 checks per dependent child. Mixed-status families with one Social Security number-holder would also retroactively become eligible for the $1,200 per household and $500 per child checks allocated by an earlier coronavirus-relief bill passed in March.”

  • 55% of voters say including mixed status families in coronavirus-relief is the right thing to do 

  • 32% of voters say including mixed status families in coronavirus-relief is the wrong thing to do 

  • 12% of voters say they don’t know 

The pandemic and its related economic downturn has hurt people financially, irrespective of their legal status. Passed with bipartisan Congressional support as part of the most recent coronavirus package, these provisions provide mixed-status families with much needed relief.

We find high levels of support for these provisions across party and race. When asked about including mixed-status families in pandemic relief, likely voters said it was the right thing to do by a 23 percentage-point margin (55 said it was right to do, 32 said it was wrong to do). A majority of likely voters that self-identify as Democrats (73 percent) and those who self-identify as Independent / Third Party voters (57 percent) also support the inclusion of mixed-status families in coronavirus aid. In contrast, Republican voters thought it was the wrong thing to do by a 15 percentage-point margin. By race, Black and Hispanic or Latino/a voters supported the provision by margins of 41 points and 51 points, respectively, while white voters said it was the right thing to do by a 17-point margin.

 
 

Over this past month, polling from Data for Progress has shown strong voter backing for increased stimulus aid for the duration of the pandemic, including monthly direct payments to Americans. The results of this poll support these sentiments and demonstrate that voters believe getting aid to residents hurting is the right thing to do, regardless of immigration status. 

Read the full crosstabs of Data for Progress’ polling here.


Isa Alomran is an intern at Data for Progress. 

Methodology

From December 22 to December 28, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1115 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 ±2.9 percentage points.

Question Wording:

As part of a recently passed coronavirus-relief package, Congress voted that U.S. citizens and green card holders will be able to receive $600 in direct aid, even if they filed a joint tax return with an undocumented spouse, as well as additional $600 checks per dependent child. Mixed-status families with one Social Security number-holder would also retroactively become eligible for the $1,200 per household and $500 per child checks allocated by an earlier coronavirus-relief bill passed in March. When thinking about this, which statement comes closer to your view, even if neither is exactly right?

  • Including these mixed status families in coronavirus-relief is the right thing to do 

  • Including these mixed status families in coronavirus-relief is the wrong thing to do 

  • Don't know