Those Who Sympathize

According to a new study released by Huffington Post, approximately 49 percent of Americans believe people who have been unemployed for longer than a six-month period should benefit from unemployment insurance. Only a mere 26 percent of Americans do not support this position. Similarly, 47 percent (compared to the opposing 27 percent) of Americans believe that the Congress should not allow unemployment insurance benefits to expire in the United States, especially for individuals who have experienced long-term unemployment.

Although not all Americans have not experienced unemployment, the majority of people in the United States understand that unemployment is a serious issue for Americans. Approximately 46 percent (compared to the opposing 32 percent) of Americans also support extending unemployment insurance for individuals who are expecting their benefits to expire in 2014. Fortunately for the unemployed in the United States, there is a significant number of people who support the fact that the unemployed require assistance to improve their financial situations.

 

Those Who Do Not

The study did not prove all Americans are supportive of extended unemployment insurance in the U.S. In fact, Democrats and independent voters did not share the same sentiments regarding the renewal of unemployment insurance benefits for Americans who are experiencing long-term unemployment. In contrast to most “liberal” views on the issue, Democrats and independents agreed that Congress should allow the unemployment benefits to expire for the long-term unemployed workers in the United States. In specific, approximately 44 percent of voters were against the renewal of unemployment insurance benefits in the U.S. In addition, the results from the Republican voters were similar to those of the Democrats and independents. About 53 percent of Republicans voted against renewing unemployment insurance benefits for long-term unemployed Americans.

Unfortunately, the side that supports the expiry of unemployment insurance benefits is currently winning in the United States; thus, Republicans, independent voters, as well as Democrats are all getting their way. In particular, the Senate (run by a Democratic-majority) allowed a bill to pass that would permit unemployment insurance benefits to be authorized only until May. However, past this period in 2014, the Senate does not support reauthorizing benefits to long-term unemployed workers in the U.S. This is due to the fact that approximately 66 percent of Democratic supporters believe that the long-term unemployed are not looking “hard enough” to change their financial situations. Similarly, the majority of Republican voters believe that long-term unemployed workers could find jobs if they were interested in working even on a temporary basis.

Evidently, there is little sympathy given to long-term unemployed workers by Republicans, Democrats, and independents, which means the majority of people believe long-term unemployment is an issue that can be addressed and solved. Although 45 percent of Americans have experienced some type of unemployment, there is still little understanding for individuals who have not been able to recover economically from the Great Recession.