SALT LAKE CITY — Half of the US states are cutting off the pandemic-related federal unemployment benefit. And most voters agree with the move.

Inside Sources host Boyd Matheson is encouraging listeners and readers to think again about what Americans think about unemployment benefits. To help with that, he discussed the topic with a man who has his finger on the pulse of the nation.

Poll finds Americans ready to end pandemic benefit

In this time of deeply divided politics, political analyst Scott Rasmussen uncovered something that most Americans agree on.

His poll published two days ago has found that 71% of voters* favor ending the pandemic-related supplemental unemployment payments and returning unemployment benefits to normal levels. 

Gov. Spencer Cox announced in May that Utah’s unemployed residents will no longer receive the $300 weekly COVID-19 stimulus payment, as well as other federal unemployment programs tied to the pandemic, effective June 26, according to Deseret News. Utah joined 24 other states with Republican governors in cutting off the federal unemployment programs before they expire Sept. 6., CNBC reported.

“It’s not because [voters] sat around and thought deeply about supplemental unemployment benefits,” Rasmussen said. “It’s because we’ve had a couple of less-than-stellar jobs reports . . . Businesses are struggling to find workers. A lot of people think the reason is because the incentives that were put in place during a pandemic may have made sense a year ago. But right now, not so much. They think they’re hindering people’s desire to get a job.”

Thinking again about work and jobless benefits

“Do incentives work to get people back to work or are we providing benefits that make it a lot easier to not look for work?” Boyd asked.

“If we find that the 25 states who have or are about to end these benefits do better on the jobs front to get more people back in the workforce, then we’ll have some pretty conclusive evidence that the American people are right. The 68 percent say that they think that’s what will happen; that if you these supplemental benefits, people will go back to work,” Rasmussen said.

“I want to get to one set of statistics that was really interesting to me,” Boyd said “That was looking at people who knew someone who was still receiving benefits and how that impacted their view of whether those benefits should continue. Tell us about that.”

“46 percent of voters say they know someone who is collecting more benefits than they could make working,” Rasmussen said. “Among people who knows someone who’s collecting more because of those supplemental benefits, 82% say we should end the supplemental benefits.”

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* The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from June 3-5, 2021.

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app.