A recent poll found that the majority of voters support providing financial support to USPS:

It’s Nearly Unanimous

Nearly unanimously, Americans say that the mail and package service provided by the U.S. Postal Service is important to them and their family today. Fully 94% say these services are important, including 64% who say very important. Just 6% feel that USPS’s mail and package services are not important.

Americans in every part of the country, in all types of communities, and of all political persuasions value postal services (see table above). This includes 91% of urban voters and 94% of rural voters, no less than 92% in every region of the country, and 95% of Democrats and 92% of Republicans.

Voters rely on USPS for a variety of highly-valued services, including the delivery of prescription medications (93% important service), receiving and paying monthly bills (92%), and receiving items purchased online (91%). Significantly, they place the highest priority on the role the Postal Service is playing in responding to the coronavirus crisis: delivering official government recommendations, supplies, medications, and test kits related to COVID-19 (95% important, 75% very important).

Voters Want USPS Funded

The survey reveals an overwhelming bipartisan consensus in favor of Congress appropriating funds for the Postal Service to maintain operations through the coronavirus crisis in the next round of financial relief legislation. When voters learn that USPS is expected to run out of operating funds by September, fully 92% of all voters support congressional action, including 90% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats. Agreement is very widespread encompassing every region of the country and all generations of Americans

Direct Funding – Not a Loan

Finally, the survey presented voters with a debate over which of two responses to the Postal Service funding shortfall is better: loans or direct funding. Fully 70% of Americans reject the loan option, because it would weaken the postal system at a time when so many Americans are relying on it, and embrace direct federal funding as the best solution.

Even with loans offered as an alternative, Republican voters agree (61% to 39%) that Congress should provide direct funding to the Postal Service rather than providing only loans. Democrats prefer federal funding by an even more lopsided margin of 79% to 21%. Other groups that strongly prefer direct federal funding include rural voters (77% to 23%), middle- income voters making between $50,000 and $100,000 (73% to 27%), and white non-college voters (72% to 28%).

Background & Methodology:

Hart Research Associates and North Star Opinion Research have conducted a survey among 804 registered voters nationwide, to explore the importance voters place on postal services today and to measure support for Congress providing financial support to USPS. The survey was conducted online from April 10 to 12, 2020, and has a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points. This memo reviews the survey’s main findings.

Read the full report here.