Yahoo Finance and The Harris Poll uncover America’s Sentiment on COVID-19 Economic Stimulus

Yahoo Finance and the Harris Poll, in their ongoing partnership, asked American adults about government efforts to counter the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as offering enhanced benefits to Americans who have lost their jobs recently. Among the takeaways:

• Most American adults (58%) say the $600 a week in enhanced unemployment benefits should expire by the end of August, though 17% say the program should be extended into spring 2021.
• Two-thirds of Americans (62%) also think the enhanced jobless benefits discourage people from going back to work. Even among unemployed Americans, nearly half (46%) say they would avoid returning to work if the benefits are continued past July 31.
• Most Americans favor government incentives to get people back onto payrolls. Seven in 10 (69%) would support bonuses to people who returned to their old job or found a new one, and 79% endorse incentives such as tax breaks or grants to employers for rehiring workers.
• Many Americans are still financially squeezed. A third (33%) say they need a second stimulus check. And of those unemployed today, 1 in 10 (11%) say they’d lose their homes if the federal jobless benefits end on July 31, as scheduled.
• Most Americans would not sue their employers or other enterprises if they were exposed to the coronavirus while at work (66%) or visiting another business (70%).

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S by the Harris Poll on behalf of Yahoo Finance from July 3-5, 2020 among 2,094 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Matthew Feider.