A public opinion survey commissioned by the Johns Hopkins school of public health found that six in 10 voters oppose cuts in food stamps, the largest U.S. anti-hunger program. SNAP is the major issue in Senate and House negotiations over the 2018 farm bill. House Republicans want to apply stricter work requirements to a larger group of food stamp recipients.
In the telephone survey, conducted during the first two weeks of June, 61 percent of respondents said they opposed cuts in food stamp funding. The view was strongly held; of the 61 percent who were against the cuts, 73 percent described themselves as “strongly opposed.”
Some 58 percent of respondents said they oppose “eliminating funding for conservation programs that help farmers and agricultural operations maintain environmental quality.” Overall, said the Center for a Livable Future, part of the Hopkins school of public health, “many registered voters believe that the government should do more to support agricultural producers and meet the needs of its citizens.”
Bill Martin, director of the Food Systems Policy Program at the Hopkins center, told Food Navigator, “Our poll shows a strong majority of voters come down on the side of the Senate’s farm bill.” Nearly three-fourths of respondents said the government was doing a poor or “just fair” job of making sure that low-income people have enough to eat.
The House bill would require an estimated 7 million “work-capable” adults aged 18 to 59 to work at least 20 hours a week or spend an equivalent amount of time in job training or workfare to qualify for food stamps. The Senate rejected, by a 2-to-1 margin, a similar proposal while it was debating its bill.