SCE PUBLIC POLICY SURVEY
December Survey: Expectations for Increases in Federal Benefits Fall Across the Board
- Average expectations of increases in federal welfare benefits, social security benefits, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, and Medicare all fell sharply in December, with average expectations of decreases in these benefits rising to levels not seen since April 2017.
- Expectations for housing assistance/affordable housing, free/subsidized public preschool education, federal student aid, and student debt forgiveness also sharply declined.
- The average perceived likelihood of an expansion in paid parental leave decreased to 15.9 percent in December from 24.4 percent in August.
- The average perceived likelihoods of increases in the gasoline tax, capital gains tax, payroll tax, average income tax rate, and income tax rate for the highest bracket all declined sharply in December.
Editor’s Note: We are currently working through some technical issues in the interactive charts regarding the display of dates along the x-axis. As a result, data for November 2015-2016 are currently not presented in the interactive charts; data for all years remain available to download, however.
About:
The SCE Public Policy Survey is fielded every four months as a rotating module of the Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE). The data are updated online as results come in.
