Political Attitudes Toward Government
There is strong support for government spending across a range of areas, including rent/mortgage relief, healthcare, small businesses, farmers, and infrastructure. 79% want increased spending for small businesses, 64% want increased spending on healthcare, 66% want more relief for farmers, and 55% want more spending on infrastructure. When combined with support for keeping spending the “same,” these numbers were much higher: 81% want the same or increased government spending towards rent or mortgage relief. Support is largely bipartisan across these areas.
A large majority (78%) of rural Westerners want the same or an increased amount of government relief paid directly to individuals. A little over half of all respondents would like an increase in these direct payments. Overall, support is bipartisan and generally strongest among the unemployed.
Rural Westerners want a decrease in government spending for only two areas, (1) large businesses and (2) oil and gas companies. 63% want less government spending for large businesses and 56% want less for oil and gas companies.
Approval for the handling of the pandemic is lowest for members of Congress, with 61% of respondents disapproving of their performance. Approval and disapproval rates, respectively, are more split for President Trump (43% vs. 44%), respondents’ governor (40% vs. 43%), and respondents’ local elected officials (28% vs. 39%).
This figure shows approval for different forms of government in their handling of the pandemic. Congress fared the worst, while President Trump and state governments saw an even split between approval and disapproval. Local government was even across the board.
This figure shows relative support for government relief spending in the rural West by political affiliation. Several themes emerge including strong, bipartisan support for funding for small businesses, health, direct subsidies, and housing. However, there is stronger support among Democrats for all types of spending including state and local government and renewable energy. There is strong, bipartisan opposition to government relief spending for oil and gas and large businesses.
Policy Takeaway:
Rural communities in the West have always relied heavily on federal government programs, receiving more federal funding per capita than what they pay in federal taxes. Yet, at the same time, rural Westerners have traditionally expressed attitudes that are fiercely self-reliant and anti-federalist. The findings from our survey suggest that Covid-19 pandemic has impacted these attitudes, revealing that rural Westerners openly support sustained – and even increased – government spending.