Survey Finds Voters Want Action on Policies to Promote Economic Opportunity within First 100 Days of Next Administration

A new Jobs for the Future survey finds more than 80 percent of voters support expanding apprenticeship programs and promoting skills-based hiring

BOSTON (Oct. 1, 2024) — Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit driving transformation in the U.S. workforce and education systems, today released data from a new survey of registered voters that shows Americans strongly support policies to remove barriers and connect workers to economic opportunity. Three out of four voters surveyed want the next president to take action in the first 100 days to support apprenticeship and skills-based hiring, and a similar number support actions to make childcare more affordable. These issues rank far above college affordability proposals– including making community college or trade school free, doubling need-based Pell grants, and income-contingent loan repayment– which solicited the least bipartisan agreement and the least support overall. 

Conducted by Morning Consult in September, the survey asked registered voters about 22  education and workforce policy ideas, including proposals from both party platforms. Six of these proposals garnered more than 80% support from voters:  

• Expanding apprenticeship programs (84% overall)
  •  88% Democrats, 82% Republicans, and 80% Independents
• Promoting skills-based hiring (84% overall)
  • 88% Democrats, 82% Republicans, and 79% Independents
• Providing guidance on education options that lead to family-sustaining wages (84% overall)
  • 90% Democrats, 81% Republicans, and 78% Independents 
• Create training programs for digital skills (82% overall)
  • 88% Democrats, 78% Republicans, 77% Independents
• Supporting affordable alternatives to traditional four-year college degree (81% overall)
  •  86% Democrats, 75% Republicans, 80% Independents)
• Aligning K-12 and Higher Education curriculum to high-skill, high-wage, in-demand industries (81% overall) 
  • 87% Democrats, 78% Republicans, 76% Independents

Survey respondents with Democratic affiliation indicated stronger levels of support for each of the 22 issues compared to registered Republicans or Independents, who tended to hold similar views and levels of support. The six most popular policy provisions (above) each had broad bipartisan support..

“Despite all the headlines about political division in the country, when you talk to voters about the education and workforce issues that matter to them, there’s striking consensus,” said Maria Flynn, president and CEO of Jobs for the Future. “Our workforce system isn’t working for millions of Americans, and many feel stuck in jobs with no opportunity for upward mobility. When you look at what matters most to voters, they’re eager to see the next presidential administration take action on issues that can make a tangible impact on the quality of jobs available to them.”  

Additional key findings include:

Beyond just supporting the policies, voters want to see action. 70% or more of all voters believe it is somewhat or very important that the next President take action on five key issues in the first 100 days:

• Expand apprenticeship programs, so more people can earn a living while they learn a skill (74%).
• Provide better guidance to people to help them find education, training, and career options that fit their needs and that lead to jobs that pay family sustaining wages (74%).
• Make it possible for more people to be hired based on their skills and not whether they hold a college degree, by removing unnecessary college degree requirements from government contract positions and by encouraging private-sector businesses to do the same (74%).
• Make childcare more affordable and accessible, by expanding tax credits to working parents and to employers who provide childcare for their employees. (72%).
• Emphasize K-12 and higher education curriculum that prepares students for jobs in high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand industries. (71%).

Proposals related to college affordability were more partisan and less popular.  The least popular policy proposals were on making trade school and community college free (68% somewhat/strongly support), doubling the maximum federal financial aid for students (66% support), and income-contingent repayment of student loans (60% support). But despite being the lowest ranked, a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all say they supported the proposals. Republican support was notable, given that all three are part of the Democratic platform. The proposals that saw the biggest bipartisan gaps were making trade school and community college free, Democrats (81%) and Republicans (56%).  Doubling the maximum Pell grant had a 24 percentage point party gap, and income-based repayment of loans had a 23 percentage point gap.

One third of Independent voters don’t trust either Democrats or Republicans to address the needs of students and workers.  While Democrats and Republicans mostly favored their own party’s platforms,, Independents were skeptical of both: one-third of Independents said they do not trust either party to address the needs of students and workers. 

• 37% of Independents trust Democrats to make college more affordable (27% trust Republicans)
• 36% of Independents trust Republicans more to improve economic opportunities for workers and families (33% trust Democrats)

In an earlier poll commissioned by JFF this summer, strong majorities of voters said that education, job training, and employment-related issues were critically important to them this election season and many were dissatisfied with the level of attention candidates and elected officials were paying to these issues. 

To bring attention to the kitchen-table issues voters care about, JFF recently unveiled its “No Dead Ends” policy roadmap to make our siloed education and workforce systems work better for millions of workers and learners. For a detailed look at the survey findings and to explore JFF’s policy recommendations, visit https://info.jff.org/nodeadends. 

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About Jobs for the Future:  

Jobs for the Future (JFF) drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all. www.jff.org