Recently released polls from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and Republican Governors Association (RGA), and the New York Times both show a majority of Americans oppose liberal welfare payments.
In the battleground survey produced by the combined NRSC and RGA, participants were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: Overly generous welfare and unemployment benefits are preventing people from looking for work despite job openings due to the fact that the government is paying them to stay at home.
Of the participants, 62 percent agreed with the statement and 34 disagreed (with a 2.8 percent margin for error). Of those, 51 percent strongly agreed and 27 strongly disagreed.
The New York Times had a study conducted by Momentive, formerly SurveyMonkey, which found similar results. Fifty-two percent of people said that the additional $300 weekly unemployment checks from the government should end immediately. This included 80 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Independents, and 27 percent of Democrats.
Opponents of stimulus checks argue the additional money disincentivizes the unemployed to look for work.
Lawmakers in 25 states have already ended federal unemployment checks early. This is after May's job reports announced 100,000 fewer added jobs than expected.
But the debate over unemployment checks isn't over. Democrats are now looking to reinstate federal unemployment benefits.
Court orders Indiana to reinstate pandemic-era federal unemployment benefits https://t.co/TD6fo9z8wV by @denitsa_tsekova pic.twitter.com/36NpvjzPtW
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 26, 2021