Report: Americans Satisfied with Stimulus Payments; Many Wanted a Larger Amount

The April 2021 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,541 registered voters in the United States about the American Rescue Plan, COVID-19, vaccinations, student loan forgiveness, infrastructure, and more.

Stimulus Payments

The American Rescue Plan Act, signed by President Biden in March, included stimulus checks for eligible Americans. Nearly eight in ten Americans (79%) report recently receiving a stimulus payment from the U.S. government. Individuals in rural areas were most likely to receive a stimulus payment, with 86% reporting a payment, compared to 76% of Americans in urban areas.

Among people who received a stimulus check, 91% said it was in the amount they expected. Only 6% of recipients expected a larger amount, and 3% were expecting a lower amount. Many stimulus recipients did not support the payments at all. However, of those who both received and supported the stimulus payment, 63% were satisfied with the amount they received, whereas 33% thought the payments should have been higher.

Younger Americans were most likely to be dissatisfied with the amount of their stimulus payments. Only 30% of Americans aged 18-34 said they were satisfied with their payment, compared to 29% who thought it should have been higher. Another 18% did not receive a payment, and 18% did not support the payments at all. In contrast, fully 53% of Americans over age 65 said they were satisfied with the payments they received.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccinations

Over a year into the coronavirus pandemic, one in four Americans (24%) know someone who has died from COVID-19. This includes 38% of Black Americans and 35% of Hispanic Americans. The pandemic has also taken an economic toll. Nearly one in ten Americans (7%) have unpaid medical bills as a result of the pandemic.

Vaccination rates are steadily climbing in the United States. A majority of Americans (62%) are satisfied with their state or local government's vaccine rollout, and 21% say they are "completely" satisfied. Importantly, satisfaction with the vaccine rollout is high among Democrats (74%), Independents (59%), and Republicans (51%). A plurality (41%) of Americans still believe it will be six months or more before things in the United States get back to normal. Over a quarter (27%) think things will never get back to normal.

Other Topics

A plurality of Americans (48%) support federal student loan debt forgiveness of up to $50,000 per borrower; 44% oppose the proposal. While 79% of Democrats support the plan, 46% of Independents and 12% of Republicans are in favor of forgiving student loans.

Over half of Americans (54%) support raising the corporate tax rate and eliminating certain industries' tax breaks to help fund a $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs bill, as proposed by President Biden. Democrats overwhelmingly support the proposal, with 92% in support, and a majority (53%) of Independents support it as well. However, 82% of Republicans oppose the plan.

Americans currently see China and Russia as the United States' greatest geopolitical threats. Overall, 58% of Americans are most concerned about China, including 82% of Republicans. Another 24% believe Russia is the greater threat. Democrats are somewhat more likely to name Russia (44%) over China (36%) as the primary threat to the United States. For comparison, in January 2020, 37% of Americans thought Russia was the United States' greatest geopolitical threat, with just 30% for China.

Civiqs surveyed 1,541 registered voters in the United States from April 9-12, 2021. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.04. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.5% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.