Welcome back to the Data for Progress newsletter, your weekly update on our research, blog posts, and memos.

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When we first pitched Deb Haaland for Secretary of Interior this June, it felt like a long shot. But after months of pivotal, behind-the-scenes work from our VP of policy and strategy Julian Brave NoiseCat, WE WON!!!
 

Haaland would be the first Native American member of any Cabinet, and Julian has been advocating non-stop for her nomination, from countless news appearances to a deep dive for Politico that included an interview with Haaland. And he’s getting the recognition he deserves — including words in the Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, and Vox.

Here are some other highlights from DFP this week:

• With Congress debating the next stimulus package, new DFP polling published in Vox shows an overwhelming majority of Americans prioritize coronavirus stimulus over the debt. The Washington Post used these results to urge Democrats to start fighting debt hysteria.

• We collaborated with Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, and New Deal Strategies to show Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock that they should run on $1,200 stimulus checks — and our work was used by local Atlanta news to put Georgia conservatives on the defensive.

• Last week, our polling showed the $15 minimum wage and marijuana legalization are highly popular. This week, New York Magazine’s Eric Levitz turned that into the “Workers, Wages, Weed” agenda in a great op-ed that’s generating a lot of buzz.

Media Hits

• The Washington Post, Vox, Slate, and Newsweek wrote excellent pieces explaining why a big stimulus is an electoral asset — not a liability. They cited our polling showing 81 percent (!!) support for more relief.

• Marcela Mulholland and Julian Brave NoiseCat interviewed Dr. Robert Bullard, the “Father of Environmental Justice,” in a fantastic Vice piece.

• Our partnership with Vox continues with a new piece showing majority support for canceling $50,000 of student debt.

• Trump is trying to auction off drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on January 6 — but Vox used our polling to show that voters oppose drilling in the Arctic by a 53-39 margin.

• With the New York City Council debating legislation to end solitary confinement, Politico covered our polling showing that 64 percent of New York voters support ending the practice.

• Politico also shared exclusive DFP polling showing 62 percent support for the FTC’s antitrust action against Facebook

In a new survey published yesterday in Vox, we find that 74 percent of voters prioritize passing new coronavirus stimulus over getting the national debt under control, while just 21 percent prefer the opposite. The margin was also quite wide for Republican voters: 65-31 (!!).


Why Democrats Should Run on $1,200 Checks in GA
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of electing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on January 5 — and sending $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks is the issue that could deliver them those seats.

In a new memo with Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, and New Deal Strategies, we call for Democrats at every level to make it unambiguously clear that if Georgians give Democrats the Senate, they will get $1,200 into everyone’s pockets.

It turns out, running on doing something tangible to improve every American’s financial situation is really popular. In a new poll, we find that 63 percent of Georgia voters said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who commits to passing a $1,200 check, with just 10 percent saying they’d be less likely.



And these findings are already putting the GOP on its heels — check out this video of a local news station in Atlanta covering our memo!

Meme of the Week

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