MNI POLICY: Gallup Sees 70% of Americans Favour More Stimulus

More than two-thirds of Americans support another single check stimulus payment from the federal government to shield the economy from further damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey released Tuesday by public opinion research group Gallup.

Roughly 70% of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, said another round of stimulus checks should be sent to households as part of an upcoming federal relief package, according to the survey, which was conducted between August 3-11.

More than 80% of surveyed Democrats said they supported the measure, as did 64% of Republicans and 66% of Independents. The majority of respondents said the maximum payout should be set to at least USD900 or more.

Individuals making up to USD75,000 annually qualified for one-time payments of USD1,200, or USD2,400 for married couples, under the USD2.2 trillion CARES Act signed in March. An additional USD500 was provided for each child in the household.

NO BENEFITS WORK DISINCENTIVE

As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its sixth month, federal funds allotted in the spring are drying up, leaving millions of U.S. households and businesses vulnerable. Still, an agreement on the next aid package in Congress remains largely out of reach, with Democratic and Republican leaders split along party lines on key issues, among them more generous compensation for unemployed workers.

But the majority of unemployed respondents in the Gallup survey indicated a willingness to return to work that "varied little when they were presented with different hypothetical levels of additional federal unemployment benefits," disproving a largely Republican-led claim that an added USD600 weekly benefit authorized under the CARES Act discouraged workers from returning to their jobs.

Roughly half of respondents that were unemployed at the time of the survey indicated a desire to return to work, regardless of benefit amount, with respondents asked about receiving an additional hypothetical USD450 per week, the largest benefit increase posed by researchers, just as likely to return to work as respondents asked about receiving the smallest weekly benefit increase of USD150 per week.

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump in August allowed states to offer a weekly benefit enhancement of USD300, though not all unemployed workers qualify and not all states have been approved to begin paying out such benefits.