Almost a third of Americans believe the stimulus checks delivered due to the coronavirus pandemic will last them less than a month or won’t help them at all.
According to MSN news, in a recent Bankrate.com survey, another 64% of respondents said $1,200 and $2,400 stimulus checks would cover expenses for less than three months.
A separate WalletHub survey of 350 Americans found that 84% want another wave of stimulus checks, with 43% of respondents saying they plan to use their payment to pay rent or mortgage.
This isn’t surprising considering more than 20 million people nationwide are currently unemployed, with 4.4 million applying for unemployment last week. Additionally, rent and mortgage payments are typically more than $1,200 in most of the country. As a result, nearly a third of American renters missed their April rent payments due to a lack of funds and other issues.
One of the reasons so many people are struggling now is that they were struggling even before the coronavirus outbreak. According to Bankrate, 4 in 10 Americans didn’t have enough money saved to cover a $1,000 emergency expense before the outbreak. Additionally, 74% of all American employees were living paycheck-to-paycheck before the coronavirus outbreak occurred and now can’t replace lost income.
The coronavirus’ damage on the economy has been so significant, both high- and low-income earners are feeling it. 71% of families earning more than $100,000 a year are claiming their income has taken a hit—which is the same as the 71% of families making less than $50,000 claiming the same financial struggles.
The coronavirus has also split Americans by political parties. Republicans are more likely to be worried about the economic effects of the coronavirus, while Democrats are more worried about the public health impact of the virus.
A second stimulus payment is more than likely the next issue for politicians to take up, but there are still varying issues holding up the first payments. Everything from delays to debt collectors are leaving Americans broke and angry.
Some help is on the way as the Senate passed a second coronavirus relief bill, allocating $484 billion to assist businesses, individuals, and the medical industry to deal with the economic and health-related issues brought by the coronavirus.