With Congress likely heading for a fight over an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits, voters in a new poll overwhelmingly say they don’t want those payments to be cut.
The survey by Politico and Morning Consult found that four in 10 registered voters say the government should increase unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Another 35% said jobless benefits should stay the same. Just 13% said the payments should be cut.
The poll of 1,987 registered voters was conducted June 12-14 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
Trump administration officials and leading Republican lawmakers have said that the current benefits, including a $600 weekly boost provided as part of emergency coronavirus relief legislation, is a problem since it creates a disincentive for workers to go back to their jobs. Democrats have proposed extending the $600 increase, set to expire at the end of July, by six months.
