Death to Pennies: A Majority of Voters Support Stopping the Production of New Pennies
By Bella Kumar, McKenzie Wilson, and Lew Blank
Every year, the U.S. government produces billions of new pennies. Even though a penny is worth only 1 cent, each penny costs about 2 cents to produce. In 2010, 70 million dollars of federal tax money went to subsidizing the existence of the penny, meaning that the U.S. has lost roughly $840 million over the past 12 years to the production of the penny. This is enough money to pay for the Inflation Reduction Act’s alternative fuel and low-emission aviation technology program 2.5 times.
New Data for Progress polling reveals that 58 percent of voters agree that the U.S. government should stop producing new pennies. When voters hear information about this cost, a majority of them agree that the penny is no longer useful in our economy and producing the coins wastes millions of dollars. Though little in politics is bipartisan these days, the death of the penny is a bipartisan winner: 59 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of Independents, and 57 percent of Republicans support ending the production of pennies. (Just over a third of voters believe the U.S. government should continue producing new pennies.)
Sadly, this support does not extend to another useless currency: the nickel. As with pennies, each year, the U.S. government produces more than a billion new nickels — even though a nickel is worth only 5 cents, and each nickel costs about 8 cents to produce. Even with this knowledge, only 33 percent of voters believe the U.S. government should stop producing new nickels, recognizing that nickels are no longer useful in our economy and producing them wastes millions of dollars. Fifty-nine percent of voters believe the U.S. government should continue producing new nickels, saying that nickels are an important part of our economy and abolishing them would disrupt business in the U.S.
Finally, we provided respondents with context of the precedent of ending certain coins. In 1857, the U.S. government stopped production of the half-cent coin — which at the time was worth more than what a dime is today — after determining that it was no longer useful in our economy. We then asked voters if, knowing what they know now, they support or oppose the U.S. government stopping the production of new pennies and nickels. Voters support stopping the production of new pennies and nickels by a +10-point margin, including Democrats by a +16-point margin, independents by a +10-point margin, and Republicans by a +2-point margin.
Those who oppose coinage reform usually point to sentimental reasons, citing the honor of presidents, like Abraham Lincoln, featured on these coins. However, as author John Green notes, it is likely that Lincoln himself would be confused at why his face is on the penny — a coin that is worth 1/26th of what a penny was worth when he was president.
Bella Kumar (@bellakkumar) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.
McKenzie Wilson (@MckenzieAWilson) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.