Polling Shows Concern About Extreme Weather Events and Broad Support for Greater Levels of Disaster Assistance

A polling memo released late last month by Data for Progress, found that voters across the political spectrum remain concerned about the impact of extreme weather events that are growing in frequency and intensity. At the same time, voters are nearly unanimous in the opinion that the federal government is not doing enough to assist disaster survivors – who are more likely to be low-income, Black, Latino, Indigenous, homeless, or disabled households. 

Nearly half of likely voters are concerned that they may be displaced from their home due to an extreme whether event; more than one-third of those polled either had already been displaced from their home due to an extreme weather event or knew someone who had. Only 38% of those polled think that the federal government is providing sufficient support to disaster survivors. The poll distinguished responses by political affiliation, revealing that opinions about the threat of severe weather and the need for greater resources for disaster recovery remain remarkably stable whether speaking to Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.

Additional questions found that 83% of likely voters, including 80% of Republican voters, support providing federal housing assistance after a disaster. Nearly 80% of voters, including nearly 80% of Republican voters, support federal grants for low-income households displaced by extreme weather events. Eighty-five percent support federal funding for infrastructure resiliency against extreme weather and 74% support federal funding for homes and buildings. Those polled also uniformly support a reduction in wait times for those in need of support following disasters.

The memo from Data for Progress included numerous policy solutions, many of which are supported by the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition. The recommendations include: implementing the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, creating an eviction moratorium accompanying major disasters, increasing access to FEMA resources by expanding the documentation eligible to show ownership or occupancy of disaster damaged properties via the “Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act,” and permanently authorize HUD’s federal long-term recovery funding program via the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act.”

 Read the polling memo from Data for Progress at: https://bit.ly/3bagwfH