Amidst Public Health Crisis, Nebraskans Prioritize Healthcare, Concern for Medicaid Expansion and State Job Performance
The Nebraska Voters’ Outlook is a statewide public opinion research initiative measuring Nebraskans’ thoughts on a cross-section of state policy and issues impacting children and families in Nebraska. The poll of 900 Nebraskans is conducted by the independent polling firm Patinkin Research Strategies, between March 19-March 25, 2020. Full results are available here. View the research memo here. Press release available here. Amidst a public health, economic crisis, Nebraskans largely believe (64%) the state is heading in the right direction, a 6 point increase since July 2019 polling. Aside from education quality (+24 positive margin), Nebraskans believe the state legislature is under-performing on all other public policy priorities. Nebraskans prioritize healthcare amid pandemic “Perhaps now more than ever, Nebraskans understand how important healthcare is to their lives, and the lives of others,” said Hadley Richters, CEO of Holland Children’s Institute. A 69 percent majority prioritized access to affordable healthcare, ranking …
Nebraska Voters’ Outlook 2019-Q3: Strong Majorities Link High Property Tax to Lack of State Education Funding in Nebraska; Concern on Delays to Medicaid Expansion
The Nebraska Voters’ Outlook is a statewide public opinion research initiative measuring Nebraskans’ thoughts on a cross-section of state policy and issues impacting children and families in Nebraska. The poll is conducted by the independent polling firm targetsmart. Full results are available here. The results reveal strong majorities of Nebraskans identify ‘making healthcare affordable and accessible’ (70 percent); ‘lowering property taxes’ (64 percent); and ‘fully funding K-12 public education’ (61 percent) as top policy proposals that would be most helpful to them, and their families. High Property Taxes Linked to Lack of State Education Funding, Not Overspending by Local School Districts “Most notably results show Nebraskans strongly link high property taxes to lack of state education funding (59 percent), instead of overspending by local school districts (35 percent),” said Hadley Richters, Holland Children’s Institute CEO. “And with this understanding, a majority of Nebraska voters favor fully funding public education (51 …
Nebraska Voters’ Outlook: Consensus for Middle Class Investments
“Nebraska Voters’ Outlook” is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland Children’s Institute. We are sharing findings from a statewide public opinion survey commissioned late this summer. The third release in the Nebraska Voters’ Outlook series reveals 72% of Nebraska voters believe the state is spending too little on job training programs. “Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Nebraska agree a wide range of economic policies will support and grow the middle class like paid family leave, career and vocational education, and affordable tuition in higher education,” said Hadley Richters, CEO of Holland Children’s Institute. “And they want to see more investments in those policies, instead of more corporate tax breaks.” Richters said, “Notably, majorities in Nebraska agree that the state spends too little on job training programs, K-12 education, and early childhood care and education.” Nebraska Voters’ Outlook: Views on Supporting and Growing the Middle Class When asked whether …
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Nebraska Voters’ Outlook: Taxes, Spending, and the State Budget
“Nebraska Voters’ Outlook” is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland Children’s Institute. We are sharing findings from a statewide public opinion survey commissioned late this summer. The second release in the Nebraska Voters’ Outlook series reveals nearly 6 in 10 Nebraskans favor increasing revenue through some tax increases over cutting spending. “These results build upon an undertone found in results of our research last fall, ‘Middle class families in Nebraska are being left behind.’ That sentiment also exists when it comes to Nebraska’s state budget,” said Hadley Richters, CEO of Holland Children’s Institute. “Surprisingly, across the state voters point to a path for balancing the budget by increasing some taxes to raise revenue, rather than making cuts to spending for services,” said Richters. “We also see an overwhelming consensus in favor of more investment for a wide range of programs and services to support and grow the middle class, over tax breaks for corporations and large …
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Nebraska Voters’ Outlook: Perceptions on Influence in State Government
“Nebraska Voters’ Outlook” is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland Children’s Institute. We are sharing findings from a statewide public opinion survey commissioned late this summer. The first release in the Nebraska Voters’ Outlook series reveal Nebraskans have cynical views on who and what is influencing decisions in state government. When asking voters to volunteer answers on what most influences decision making in state government, 70% of respondents offered a cynical answer like money, special interests, personal agendas or partisanship. There is a stark difference between what groups Nebraska voters indicate they feel have been helped by state economic policies. Those surveyed indicate they believe state economic policies have helped the following groups a lot or fair amount by these margins: big corporations (58 percent), wealthy Nebraskans (56 percent), blue collar workers (26 percent), Nebraska’s middle class (25 percent), average Nebraska families (24 percent), families living in poverty …
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Nebraska Values Project – Installment IV
The Nebraska Values Project is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland children’s Institute. In partnership with Myers Research & Strategic Services, a live telephone survey was conducted in early November 2017 to measure public opinion among Nebraska voters on public policy issues and demographic research affecting children and working families across Nebraska. Nebraskans overwhelmingly support more attention from the state toward building the middle class through investing in healthcare and education at every level, and providing better opportunities for good paying jobs, retirement and benefits. A broad agreement exists among Nebraska voters – state elected officials should give families the tools they need to succeed, instead of eliminating community programs and further cuts to spending. Across the board – Nebraskans believe state government’s priorities are not aligned with those of voters, and the majority say our elected officials are not looking out for average families in Nebraska, and …
Nebraska Values Project – Installment III
The Nebraska Values Project is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland children’s Institute. In partnership with Myers Research & Strategic Services, a live telephone survey was conducted in early November 2017 to measure public opinion among Nebraska voters on public policy issues and demographic research affecting children and working families across Nebraska. The third release of our public opinion research reveals how Nebraskans feel about the legislature and the Governor. There is a clear disconnect between the economic realities of Nebraska families and where they feel their government is focused. Nebraskans believe the Governor and the legislature have been focused on cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy or doing little to help average families while at the same time a near majority report that they do not have enough savings to cover their bills for at least six months in the case of emergency. The Disconnect Between …
Nebraska Values Project – Installment II
The Nebraska Values Project is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland children’s Institute. In partnership with Myers Research & Strategic Services, a live telephone survey was conducted in early November 2017 to measure public opinion among Nebraska voters on public policy issues and demographic research affecting children and working families across Nebraska. Our polling reveals Nebraska voters believe government economic policies are leaving the middle class behind. Voters in Nebraska believe the best way to build our middle class is to ensure people willing to work hard are given the opportunity and the tools they need. Importantly, there is a clear line of support for creating an opportunity for skills training and jobs with good benefits to strengthen the middle class, versus focusing on spending cuts and changes to public benefits. Economic Opportunity and The Middle Class Highlights from Installment II: For Nebraskans, home ownership, a secure job, …
Nebraska Values Project – Installment I
The Nebraska Values Project is a public opinion research initiative of the Holland Children’s Institute. In partnership with Myers Research & Strategic Services, a live telephone survey was conducted in early November 2017 to measure public opinion among Nebraska voters on public policy issues and demographic research affecting children and working families across Nebraska. “The first public results of our Nebraska Values Project indicate that Nebraskans across the ideological spectrum support greater investments in education and healthcare,” said Andy Holland, President of the Holland Children’s Institute. “Notably, Nebraskans associate building a stronger middle class with specific ideas and proposals like paid family leave and affordable childcare.”
Expanding Pre-K
In the 2014-15 school year, 84% of Nebraska school districts offered a state early childhood education program, but only 28% of all school district preschool programs were operating as full-day programs. The lack of access to full-day high-quality prekindergarten in Nebraska leaves too many young children missing out on educational benefits that can close in on the academic achievement gap. Our issue brief explores the expansion of voluntary full-day pre-K programs for 3 and 4-year-olds with new funding supporting programs that meet the quality standards of the Nebraska Department of Education Rule 11.