Public Opinion Monthly (September 2010)

Public Support for Policies for Equal Recovery and Opportunity

Looking at the road ahead, Public Opinion Monthly reviewed public support for policies, which promote equal opportunity for more communities in our society.

By Eleni Delimpaltadaki

Improving economic mobility in the U.S.:

When asked to choose among a list of remedies that would improve mobility in this country (2009 Pew Economic Mobility Survey), Americans unified around three: 1. Keep U.S. jobs (81 percent), 2. Make college more affordable (69 percent), and 3. Reduce health care costs (67 percent). It is worth noting that cutting taxes ranked 12th in a list of 16th items (supported by 51 percent).

Economic policy priorities: Nearly all Americans think that we should prioritize not just creating jobs but creating quality jobs (91%) and good paying jobs (90%). They also think that the following proposals are most likely to help the economy and they are personally important to them (Community Voices on the Economy Survey):

• More jobs with decent wages and benefits for low-income families: 73% say are personally important and 88% say that they would help the economy;
• More affordable education and training opportunities: 69% and 85%;
• Lower taxes: 71% and 79%;
• Equal pay and benefits for men and women: 74% and 79%;
• Health care that is more available and affordable, and that is not dependent on your job: 72% and 75%; and
• Ending discrimination based on race, gender and age: 63% and 62% respectively.

Finally, 66 percent of voters support raising income taxes on the wealthy—individuals making $500,000 or more and households making $1 million or more (Bloomberg National Poll, Seltzer & Co., Dec. 3-7, 2009).

Workplace Policies:

There is great support for a series of family-friendly policies in the workplace, including:
 

• A basic labor standard that would guarantee “all workers a minimum number of paid sick day to care for themselves or immediate family members" (89%). A strong majority agrees that part-time workers should be included in paid sick day policies (71%).
• Expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to offer paid leave for a set number of weeks (76%) or that “business should be required to provide paid family and medical leave for every worker who needs it" (76%).
• Flexibility in employees' work schedule (74%).
• More funding for childcare to support parents who work (67%).

The above data are based on the Women’s Survey (September 2009) and the Paid Sick Days and Paid Family and Medical Leave survey (June 2007).

A vast majority of Americans agree that business that fail to adapt to the needs of modern families risk losing good workers.

Government spending:

Connecting perceptions of disparities to possible remedies, Americans clearly think that government spending on assistance to the poor is too little by nine to one, who think that it is too much. However it is notable that when “assistance to the poor” is replaced with welfare in a question support drops drastically to the benefit of the opposition that says we spend too much: the share of those agree that we do not spend enough drops from 70% to 25% while the opposing statement garners 38% support to 8%, who think that spending on assistance to the poor is too much. This gap can be explained by the political and ideological weight of the word “welfare” (framing effect).

With respect to government spending on improving the conditions of Blacks, Americans are ambivalent on whether more money should be spent on this similarly to their doubts about whether systemic challenges hold Blacks back. Solid pluralities think that we spend just about the right amount (48%) while 38 percent say spending is too little.

Support for government safety net:

Public sentiment about a government safety net today is relatively positive. A consistent majority of Americans (63%) believe that it is the responsibility of government to take care of “people who can’t take care of themselves.” As the following graph shows, there have been shifts in support for the social safety net. The all- time low was in 1994, at the time of the conservative ascendency and the “Contract with America” (Pew Research Center, Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987–2009). 

Majorities also agree that “government should guarantee every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep” (62 percent agree; 35 percent disagree) and that it should be “responsible for ensuring that its citizens can meet their basic need for food” (74 percent agree; 25 percent disagree)—based on Belden Russonello & Stewart/The Opportunity Agenda 2007 survey—and education (83 percent agree; 16 percent disagree) (World Public Opinion). Support for the proposition that it is the government’s responsibility to “provide a job for everyone who wants one” is on less solid ground (36 percent agree; 63 percent disagree) (The Opportunity Agenda).

Public support for government assistance diminishes when applied to more marginalized groups. For example, Americans think that “poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs” by a 72 percent to 22 percent margin (Pew Research Center). Although this majority has decreased from its high point of 85 percent in 1994 before “welfare reform” was adopted, it demonstrates the enduring strength of the public’s belief in over-dependence by the poor.

Affirmative action:

More Americans think that affirmative action programs are still needed (54%) than those who believe that these programs have gone too far and should be ended because they unfairly discriminate against whites (39%). Opinions vary drastically based on race and ethnicity and, to a lesser extent, gender. Whites oppose these programs more than they support them. At the to other end of the spectrum, African Americans by ten to one and Hispanics by almost four to one think agree they are needed (Pew Economic Mobility Survey, March 2009).

Affirmative Action