Memo: Voters See States as Essential and Want Them to Receive Aid

By Louis Di Paolo, Ethan Winter, and Colin McAuliffe

Executive Summary

  • States and local governments now face what could be the largest budget shortfalls recorded in US history.

  • Without significantly more federal aid, states are left with few other choices but to make dramatic and harmful cuts to state programs and services once thought uncuttable.

  • A majority of voters (53 percent) think that the federal government should provide states with financial assistance.

  • By a 25 percentage point margin voters support the federal government providing aid to states automatically once their unemployment rate rises above five percent. 

  • Voters support Congress establishing an entity that can loan to states by a 32 percentage point. 

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