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- 42% of respondents want the next round of COVID stimulus checks to be at least $2,000.
- The $1,400 currently in Biden’s bill is satisfactory for many, with 65% wanting $1,400 or more.
- A quarter of respondents specifically wrote $2,000, an amount Biden pledged before his inauguration.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
A poll of 1,154 Americans found significant backing for a new round of large stimulus checks, with 19% of respondents supporting the Biden administration’s $1,400 checks but a further 46% of respondents supporting a number higher than that figure.
The poll was conducted February 22, 2021 on SurveyMonkey Audience and has a margin of error of approximately 3 percentage points.
The House of Representatives is poised to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package later this week. The massive 591-page bill includes $1,400 stimulus checks for eligible Americans, among other economic benefits.
Respondents were asked an open-ended question, “What amount would you support for a new round of stimulus checks paid out to Americans?” While 19% of respondents wrote in $1,400, the amount of Biden’s checks, 26% wrote in $2,000, the direct payments advertised on the campaign trail.
The $1,400 checks are Biden’s approach to delivering on a pledge to provide $20,00 direct payments to Americans. The most recent COVID-19 stimulus package, a $900 billion bill signed by then-President Donald Trump in late December, provided eligible Americans with $600 checks. Biden’s bill adds $1,400 to the $600 to bring the total to $2,000.
Some progressives have criticized Biden over the plan, stating he broke his promise to deliver $2000 payments.
“$2,000 means $2,000. $2,000 does not mean $1,400,″ Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Post last month.
Roughly a quarter of respondents said the checks should be $2000
The trimmed mean – the average after the 5% of responses at either extremity of the responses were removed – gave an average answer of $1,590 as the desired value of the direct payments.
Here’s a breakdown of how Americans responded to Insider’s poll:
- 5% said the amount should be $0
- 11% said some amount less than $500
- 5% said a number between $500 and $999
- 13% said a number between $1,000 and $1,399
- 19% said $1,400 on the money, the amount currently in the plan
- 5% said some number between $1,401 and $1,999
- 26% said the checks should be $2,000, an amount Biden pledged in early January
- 16% said a number more than $2,000
Republicans say Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan is too costly, and are opposed to it. But it’s expected to pass along party lines in the House. The bill will then go to the Senate, where it’s expected to face more obstacles and various provisions could be scrapped – including one providing for a $15 minimum wage increase.
Senate Republicans earlier this month introduced a $618 billion stimulus plan that included $1,000 direct payments, but it was rejected by Democrats.
Biden on Monday signaled he was still open to compromising and potentially removing certain provisions.
“I’m prepared to hear ideas about how to make the American Rescue Plan better and cheaper,” Biden said. “But we have to make clear who we’re helping and who it would hurt.”
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn’t try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,154 respondents February 22, 2021 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.
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