Coronavirus Update: Voters Support More Spending and Worry About Covering Costs

By Ilya Sheyman, Coronavirus Response Hub and Charlotte Swasey, VP Data and Polling, Data for Progress

Voters Support More Government Spending on Coronavirus Aid

As the first round of relief programs are fully rolled out and debate moves to additional relief, the argument has been floated that the government has spent too much already. Providing comprehensive aid to individuals is an expensive proposition, more so if the aid is to come close to replacing income lost because of the pandemic.

Our new polling shows that the argument that the government has spent enough is not at all persuasive to voters. A majority of voters, 67 percent, agree that the government needs to spend more, including majorities of both parties, and only a small fraction think the government has spent too much. There is a clear demand for additional aid in this time of personal and economic crisis.

 
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Voters Are Very Worried About Covering Costs

Despite the rollout of some aid, 36 percent of voters still anticipate having trouble covering basic costs within the next month. Compared to our previous poll of this same question, we see a very slight decrease overall but increases in the percent who anticipate having trouble covering costs within the next 3 months. There is still a huge amount of immediate need for aid, compounded by longer term needs as the economy continues to slow. 

 
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Methodology

From 4/20/2020 to 4/21/2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1592 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, urbanicity, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ± 2.4 percent