If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

BUSINESS

50% Favor Jobs Tax Credits for Hiring Young Veterans

Faced with continuing high unemployment, voters feel strongly that the government needs to launch a job-creating program, but they still have far more faith in business leaders to create new jobs. They give mixed reviews to President Obama’s new plan to create jobs for military veterans.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of Likely U.S. Voters now feel it is at least somewhat important for the government to launch a new program designed to create jobs. That’s up six points from April of last year and includes 57% who say it’s Very Important. Just 20% think it’s not very or not at all important for the government to start a program aimed at job creation. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

But 64% of voters believe decisions made by U.S. business leaders to help their own businesses grow will do more to create jobs than decisions made by government officials. Only 27% think decisions made by government officials will create more jobs. These findings are consistent with previous surveys including one in late January after the president called in his State of the Union speech for a bipartisan government effort to create jobs.

The president’s latest proposal, made on Friday, calls for giving companies tax credits of up to $9,600 for each young military veteran they hire. Fifty percent (50%) favor such a program that supporters estimate will cost $120 million and create 25,000 new jobs. Thirty-two percent (32%) oppose the proposal, while another 18% are undecided about it.

The Rasmussen Employment Index, which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, fell nearly eight points in July to the lowest level since March. Only 18% of working Americans now report that their firms are hiring, while 24% say their firms are laying off workers. It has been nearly three years since the number reporting that their firms are hiring has topped the number reporting layoffs.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 7-8, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.