Voters Support Helping Jobless, Despite Deficit

Polls show support for extending benefits

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 15, 2010 5:30 PM CDT

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Voters Support Helping Jobless, Despite Deficit — In this June 23, 2010. photo, Frank Wallace, who has been unemployed since May of 2009, is seen during a rally organized by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Most voters are in favor of helping the unemployed even if it means adding to the deficit, writes Arthur Delaney at the Huffington Post, who rounds up recent polls:

A CBS survey found that 52% of respondents—including 35% of Republicans—supported extending unemployment benefits at the cost of increasing the deficit. An ABC poll had the figure at 62%.
In a Bloomberg poll, 70% of registered voters said controlling unemployment is more important than reducing the deficit (though only 47% supported extending the benefits beyond the usual limits).

Long-term benefits for the unemployed ended in May, after Democrats were unable to gain the necessary support to extend the payments. Last time around, pro-extension lawmakers failed to break a Republican filibuster by only a single vote. Harry Reid says Democrats will try again on Tuesday.
(More unemployment stories.)

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