Favor Increasing SNAP Benefits and Tax Credits for Low-Wage Workers
COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 16, 2025 -- The American public overwhelmingly opposes cuts to federal assistance programs for low-income households, and in most cases favor increasing their benefits. Large majorities of Republicans and Democrats:
- Oppose cutting Medicaid
- Support increasing SNAP benefits (food stamps), and not restricting what they can be used for
- Support increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and having it cover more workers
These are some of the findings from a new in-depth survey by the University of Maryland's Program for Public Consultation (PPC), fielded April 4-9, 2025 with a representative sample of 1,195 adults nationwide.
"While there is much momentum in Washington to cut federal programs for low-income Americans, the American public – both Republicans and Democrats – continue to support maintaining, and in some cases even increasing spending on them."
Federal Spending on Medicaid
An overwhelming bipartisan majority of 81% favor increasing or keeping spending the same on Medicaid (Republicans 75%, Democrats 86%). Respondents were informed of who is eligible for Medicaid and how many people it covers, and told that spending was $608 billion last year and made up about ten percent of the federal budget.
A modest majority (55%) favors increasing spending on Medicaid, which respondents were informed would allow Medicaid to enroll more people or cover more services. A majority of Democrats (65%) want to increase spending, as do nearly half of Republicans (49%).
Just 19% favor reducing spending on Medicaid, including 24% of Republicans and 14% of Democrats.
State Medicaid Expansion
Having their state be part of the Medicaid expansion program is favored by large bipartisan majorities:
- 75% in the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid (Republicans 69%, Democrats 82%)
- 87% in the states that have expanded Medicaid (Republicans 83%, Democrats 94%)
Respondents were informed that the Medicaid expansion program expands coverage to people making slightly above the poverty line, and states that agree to participate are required to pay ten percent of the extra costs.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP aka Food Stamps)
Respondents were informed that the federal government currently spends $94 billion a year on SNAP benefits. They were told what the average monthly benefit is for single mothers and individuals living alone, and asked what they think benefits should be.
For individuals living alone, 86% favor increasing benefits (Republicans 82%, Democrats 92%), with the median respondent increasing the monthly benefit from $170 to $250 a month (Republicans $250, Democrats $270).
For single mothers, 70% favor increasing benefits (Republicans 68%, Democrats 76%), with the median respondents increasing the monthly benefit from $530 to $600 a month (Republicans $600, Democrats $650).
Told that the SNAP program does not allow most recipients to have more than $3,000 in savings, about half favored raising that limit (49%), four in ten favored keeping it the same (39%), and just 12% said it should be lowered.
Whether to Use SNAP to Promote Healthier Diets
Majorities oppose prohibiting SNAP benefits from being used to buy sodas, chips, ice cream, cake, or candy (53-72%), including majorities of Democrats in all cases (59-79%), and majorities of Republicans in most cases (54-66%) with the exception of candy (48%).
Support for restricting such foods from the SNAP program has declined substantially among both Republicans and Democrats since 2017, when PPC found majorities of both parties favored prohibiting sodas and candy from being bought with SNAP benefits, and a majority of Republicans favored prohibiting chips and ice cream.
An overwhelming 90% favor the federal government providing a discount on fruits and vegetables purchased with SNAP benefits (Republicans 86%, Democrats 93%). Respondents were informed that this would increase the cost of the program.
Tax Credit for Low-Income Workers (EITC)
Bipartisan majorities favor three proposals to increase or expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children:
- double the maximum tax credit, from $630 to $1,300 a year (National 69%, Republicans 63%, Democrats 75%)
- lower the age of eligibility from 25 to 21 (National 66%, Republicans 59%, Democrats 73%)
- increase the income cutoff, from about $18,500 for individuals and $25,500 for married couples, to about $24,000 and $33,000, respectively (National 66%, Republicans 61%, Democrats 72%)
MORE INFORMATION
- Complete Report
- Questionnaire with Toplines, Crosstabs and Methodology
- Try the Low Income Programs Policymaking Simulation
About the Survey
The survey was a "public consultation survey" in which respondents are provided briefings and evaluate arguments for and against each proposal. Content was written using the assistance of LLMs, and reviewed to ensure that the briefings are accurate and balanced and that the arguments presented are the strongest ones being made.
The survey was fielded April 4-9, 2025 with 1,195 adults nationally. Sample was obtained from multiple online opt-in panels, including Cint, Dynata and Prodege. Sample collection and quality control was managed by QuantifyAI under the direction of the Program for Public Consultation. The sample was pre-stratified and weighted by age, race, ethnicity, gender, education, household income, region, marital status, and home ownership to match the general adult population. The sample was also weighted by partisanship to align with the most recent national distribution. The survey was offered in both English and Spanish. The confidence interval is +/- 3.1% and the response rate for the sample is 7.5%.
About the Program for Public Consultation
The Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, develops and conducts public consultation surveys, seeking to improve democratic governance by consulting representative samples of citizens on key public policy issues. It shares its findings with officials in government, the media, other academics, and the general public.
CONTACT: Taylor Ancell, Taylor.Ancell@WardCircleStrategies.com
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