Stimulus Checks: 63% of Americans Support the Federal Government Sending More Inflation Relief
Written by
David Nadelle
Edited by
Chris Cluff
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There have been several holdover pandemic issues that have hogged headlines this year as record inflation continues to plague American households. With seven days to go until the critical midterm elections, stimulus payments are once again being discussed by both major parties.
As Newsweek reported, a recent poll indicated that almost two-thirds of Americans are in favor of the federal government providing additional stimulus checks to help them combat inflation.
The study, conducted for Newsweek by market research consultant Redfield & Wilton Strategies, polled 1,500 eligible American voters Oct. 23-24, 2022, and found that 63% of respondents would support the federal government issuing new inflation checks. Of these respondents, 42% answered that they “strongly agree” with receiving further assistance.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government issued three Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) to eligible U.S. taxpayers. The first stimulus check issued was for $1,200 in April 2020, followed by a second for $600 in Deceember 2020 and January 2021. The last payment, for $1,400, was issued by the IRS to qualified Americans in March 2021, per USA.gov.
Since then, there has been fevered discussion about further federal aid to Americans. Many individual states have taken matters into their own hands and have used surplus budget funds to provide additional relief to residents still struggling amid persistent high inflation this year.
No (Complete) Consensus Among Voters on Desire for Further Stimulus Checks
However, there are plenty who oppose the idea of additional aid. The Redfield & Wilton Strategies/Newsweek survey showed that 18% are against new inflation checks and 15% neither agree nor disagree. A further 3% do not know their position on the subject.
Quoted by Newsweek, former chief economist for the Department of Labor (and current scholar at The Heritage Foundation) Diana Furchtgott-Roth weighed in on the matter. Furchtgott-Roth argued that federal and state governments providing residents with continued stimulus payments hurts the economy by causing higher inflation and fueling the incentive for people to remain out of work.
“This is because America has 10 million job openings that need to be filled,” Furchtgott-Roth said. “This drives up the cost of labor as employers compete for workers. It makes goods more expensive because firms are producing less than they prefer. It makes services more expensive because service-providing organizations — such as restaurants, hotels and airline companies — cannot provide all the services that consumers demand.”
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