Poll: Voters list more unemployment relief as top priority for next spending bill

As Congress continues to negotiate legislation for the next round of coronavirus-relief spending, voters say more unemployment relief should be the top priority in the bill, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll.

Forty-five percent of registered voters in the May 18-19 survey said the government should prioritize more support to people who lost their jobs in the next stimulus package.

Twenty-two percent named supporting small businesses as their top priority and 15 percent said funding state and local governments should be at the top of the list.

Overall, 10 percent of those surveyed said canceling rent or mortgage payments should be the top priority in the next round of spending while 5 percent said canceling student debt should be prioritized.

Three percent of voters believed supporting large corporations should be the top priority in the next round of coronavirus relief packages.

The poll found more unemployment relief and support to small businesses to be the top priorities for Republican voters, at 34 and 31 percent, respectively.

Fifty-two percent of Democratic voters named unemployment relief as their top priority while funding for state and local governments followed at 17 percent. 

Among independent voters, 46 percent said more relief to unemployed Americans should be prioritized in the next round of government spending while 22 percent said supporting small businesses.

The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 932 registered voters between May 18-19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. 

—Gabriela Schulte