Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States of America.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States of America.
Prev Med. 2022 Jan;154:106873. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106873. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
COVID-19 has stretched the U.S. social safety net and prompted federal legislation designed to ameliorate the pandemic's health and economic impacts. We surveyed a nationally representative cohort of 1222 U.S. adults in April 2020 and November 2020 to evaluate changes in public opinion about 11 social safety net policies and the role of government over the course of the pandemic. A majority of U.S. adults supported six policies at both time points, including policies guaranteeing two weeks of paid sick leave; enacting universal health insurance; increasing the federal minimum wage; and increasing government spending on construction projects, business tax credits, and employment education and training. From April to November 2020, public support was stable for nine of the 11 policies but declined nearly 10 percentage points for policies guaranteeing two weeks paid sick leave (from 76% support in April 2020 to 67% support in November 2020) and extending unemployment insurance benefits (51% to 42%). Declines in support for these two policies were concentrated among those with higher incomes, more education, in better health status, the employed, and those with health insurance. The share of respondents believing in a strong role of government also declined from 33% in April to 26% in November 2020 (p > 0.05). Despite these shifts, we observed consistent majority support for several policies enacted during the pandemic, including guaranteeing paid sick leave and business tax credits, as well as employment-related policies.
COVID-19 已经使美国的社会安全网不堪重负，并促使联邦立法旨在减轻大流行对健康和经济的影响。我们在 2020 年 4 月和 2020 年 11 月调查了一个具有全国代表性的 1222 名美国成年人队列，以评估在大流行期间，公众对 11 项社会安全网政策的看法以及政府角色的变化。大多数美国成年人在这两个时间点都支持六项政策，包括保证两周带薪病假的政策；实施全民医疗保险；提高联邦最低工资；以及增加政府在建筑项目、商业税收抵免和就业教育与培训方面的支出。从 2020 年 4 月到 11 月，11 项政策中有 9 项的公众支持率保持稳定，但有两项政策的支持率下降了近 10 个百分点，这两项政策是保证两周带薪病假（从 2020 年 4 月的 76%支持率降至 11 月的 67%）和延长失业保险福利（从 51%降至 42%）。对这两项政策的支持率下降主要集中在收入较高、教育程度较高、健康状况较好、就业者和有医疗保险的人群中。相信政府发挥强有力作用的受访者比例也从 2020 年 4 月的 33%降至 11 月的 26%（p>0.05）。尽管出现了这些变化，但我们观察到在大流行期间实施的几项政策仍然得到了大多数人的支持，包括保证带薪病假和商业税收抵免以及与就业相关的政策。
