D.C. Voters Enthusiastically Support Progressive Economic Policies, Including Using the RFK Stadium Site for Housing and Community Amenities
By Anika Dandekar and Tenneth Fairclough II
Within the last few years, D.C. lawmakers have made progress in decreasing the poverty rate in our nation’s capital by passing numerous progressive policies that have assisted residents, including investing in childhood education and expanding housing assistance. Recent analysis by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute shows that the overall poverty rate in the district declined to 13.3% in 2022 from 16.5% in 2021. Although these figures are encouraging, more work is needed particularly to address the longstanding racial inequities for those who experience poverty in the District.
New polling from Data for Progress and the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute finds D.C. voters, particularly those who are Black, report economic hardship with essential living costs such as purchasing groceries and paying housing bills. The survey also shows that likely voters strongly support initiatives being considered by the D.C. Council that will address these issues, such as increasing food security, and building and preserving more affordable housing. These findings also align with D.C. voters’ sentiment that the RFK Stadium site should mostly be used for housing and neighborhood amenities, rather than a new football stadium.
First, we asked voters if their household experienced economic hardships in the past year with several everyday essentials. D.C. voters express the highest level of hardship with affording groceries (31%), followed by affording housing payments (26%) and finding or affording child care (9%).
We find large discrepancies in economic hardship between Black voters and white voters in D.C. Compared with only 13% of white voters who say their household has experienced difficulties affording groceries in the past year, a majority of Black voters (51%) report the same. These discrepancies persist for affording housing payments, with 42% of Black voters saying their household has struggled with affording this essential need in the past year, compared with only 13% of white voters who say the same. Eleven percent of Black voters report that their household has experienced economic hardship with finding or affording child care in the past year, compared with 7% of white voters.
Next, we listed several proposals that the D.C. Council is considering voting on and then asked respondents whether they support or oppose each proposal. We find that likely D.C. voters overwhelmingly support each of the following policy proposals:
Increasing food security, by a +89-point margin
Expanding access to affordable child care, by a +88-point margin
Building and preserving more affordable housing, and increasing housing support for people experiencing homelessness, both by a +86-point margin
Creating a local child tax credit, by a +68-point margin
We find that Democrats and Independents overwhelmingly support these economic proposals being considered by the D.C. Council. While increasing food security is the policy most strongly supported by Democrats (+95-point margin), Independents indicate the highest level of support for expanding access to affordable child care (+87-point margin). Increasing housing support for people experiencing homelessness also has strong support from both Democrats and Independents (+91-point margin and +83-point margin, respectively), followed by building and preserving more affordable housing (+90-point margin and +85-point margin, respectively), and creating a local child tax credit (+72-point margin and +68-point margin, respectively).
Lastly, we asked voters how they believe the land at the RFK Stadium site should be used, in relation to current legislation that Congress is considering, which will allow the city to redevelop the site. We find that a majority of likely D.C. voters (55%) believe that the land should be used mostly for housing and neighborhood amenities, compared with only 39% of voters who say it should be used for a football stadium. Across party lines, we find that 60% of Democrats and 52% of Independents believe that the RFK site should be used mostly for housing and neighborhood amenities. We also find agreement across race where 52% of Black voters and 55% of white voters believe in this sentiment.
D.C. voters overwhelmingly support economic initiatives that will help alleviate poverty throughout the District, such as investing in food security, affordable child care, and affordable housing programs, including redeveloping existing land for housing.
Anika Dandekar (@AnikaDandekar) is a senior analyst at Data for Progress.
Tenneth Fairclough II (@tenten_wins) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.