Research

Policymakers must protect tenants from records that can effectively banish people from civil society.

By prioritizing incarcerated people and correctional officers in COVID-19 vaccine plans, we will better be able to stem the virus, protect our most vulnerable, and our community at large.

New polling shows substantial support for a number of measures that will dramatically reduce the county jail’s population amid the surging threat posed by COVID-19.

A new poll shows substantial support among Los Angeles County voters for a number of measures to reduce the jail population.

While Governor Gavin Newsom prepares to name California’s next attorney general, a new statewide poll shows overwhelming, bipartisan support for an attorney general who is independent from the police and prioritizes police accountability. 

Detaining people who pose no danger to the public in crowded, unsanitary jails and prisons not only endangers those who are incarcerated, it also subjects staff and the broader community to needless risk as new, more virulent strains of COVID-19 make their way into the United States. 

New Jersey voters broadly support their senators recommending more civil rights lawyers and public defenders to serve on the federal judicial bench.

Voters in New York and California—two states with large numbers of federal judicial vacancies—overwhelmingly support their senators recommending more civil rights lawyers and public defenders for the federal bench. 

A new national poll shows that a majority of American voters support supplementing the existing social safety net with targeted, direct cash payments at the local level.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting financial crisis have exposed the fragility and gaps within the American caregiving model.

To make real progress on immigration, the president must address not just four years of bad policy, but the last 40 years.

Today, more than 44 million Americans hold a total of about $1.6 trillion in student debt, creating significant financial hardship that had reached crisis proportions even before the pandemic triggered massive job losses. 

Consumer protection laws can pick up where the Affordable Care Act left off.

In a survey of a selection of frontline districts, including many that flipped for Republicans in 2020, majorities of voters expressed support for progressive reforms on healthcare, the environment, and policing. In other words, the very policies blamed for electoral defeats in frontline districts in fact have majority support among those same voters.

New polling from Data for Progress and The Lab, a policy vertical of The Appeal, shows that voters across party lines overwhelmingly support direct payments of $2,000.

There is also a growing bipartisan consensus that we send too many people to prison for too long, and clemency is one tool that can be used to limit the carceral state. Unfortunately, the process by which clemency petitions are evaluated is fundamentally broken.

Voters of all stripes—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—support a range of policies by overwhelming margins.

The old-school default of keeping people who are presumed innocent in jail unless they can afford bail has always been unfair, destructive, and dangerous, and that is especially true amid a pandemic that poses a unique threat to incarcerated people.

Executive Summary Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, unhoused people, uniquely vulnerable to the spread of disease, have borne the brunt of government inaction. Yet in some places where the government has taken action it came in the form of crackdowns and new ordinances that criminalize the status of living without a home—actions that contradict CDC […]

Executive Summary With control of the United States Senate hanging in the balance, new polling from Data for Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute shows that a bipartisan majority of Georgia voters are more likely to support Senate candidates who embrace Democratic policy priorities on a broad range of issues, including health care, clean energy, […]

Executive Summary A new poll from Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute shows that 87% of Georgia voters—including 84% of Republicans—support a direct federal stimulus payment to most Americans. For Peach State voters, direct financial payment should not be a matter of debate or compromise, and is instead an essential intervention in this time […]

Executive Summary Amid a significant spike in deaths among individuals experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, including a rise in overdose deaths, expanded harm reduction practices and substance use treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown promising results in reducing death and harm from opioid use. The interventions include providing emergency shelters for higher-risk adults and […]

Introduction Late one night in September 1980, New York City police officers chased Benjamin Quarles to the back of a grocery store. There, officers detained Quarles and frisked him, finding an empty shoulder holster. After securing Quarles with handcuffs, one officer asked him where the gun was. Quarles nodded toward some empty cartons and replied, […]

Executive Summary Asthma rates in the United States are intimately connected with environmental policy choices. Weak regulation or non-compliance with pollution control has resulted in uneven air quality across the country and corresponding elevated health risks. The disease burden has fallen primarily on nonwhite communities, and particularly nonwhite children, who—due to America’s racialized housing geography—tend […]

Executive Summary American voters believe our legal system should prioritize helping and supporting people over incarcerating them—and probation and parole programs must be reformed to serve that function, new polling shows. Voters want fewer people in jails and prisons, and fewer people subject to surveillance and control by law enforcement. Instead, they want probation and […]

INTRODUCTION The United States is in the midst of a housing crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic catastrophe are making it worse. Over 40 million people may soon be at risk of being thrown out of their homes at a time of great uncertainty. While the recent federal eviction moratorium keeps some people […]

Executive Summary This election has put the basic tenets of our democracy at stake. The vote will place unprecedented stresses on our system of electing a president. Whether the system will be able to withstand these pressures is another matter. American history suggests that our system is vulnerable to periodic breakdowns. Ordinarily the risk of […]

Executive Summary In the race for Maricopa County Attorney between Democrat Julie Gunnigle and Republican Allister Adel, both candidates have claimed the mantle of “reformer,” as polls consistently show broad support for policies that will reduce Arizona’s reliance on prisons and hold police officers accountable for misconduct. In the state’s most populous county, appearing to be the most “tough […]

Executive Summary Arizona helped deliver the election to Donald Trump in 2016. However, over the past four years, Republicans have seen a 148,000 voter enrollment advantage trimmed to under 100,000, resulting in historic gains for Democrats in the State Legislature and the election of Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema in 2018. In Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, the Democratic candidates […]

Executive Summary New polling from The Justice Collaborative Institute and Data for Progress indicates that most voters believe that President Trump will use vote-by-mail to try to commit voter fraud and steal the election, and that he will try to stop the counting of ballots if he is ahead on election night. Nearly half of […]

Executive Summary A new Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute poll shows that Maricopa County residents would be more likely to vote for a Maricopa County Attorney (head prosecutor) if she supported ending the prosecution of marijuana possession offenses, commuting sentences currently being served for marijuana possession, and expunging previously convicted possession convictions. […]

Executive Summary A Data for Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute poll shows that 40% of likely voters, including 53% of Democrats, would likely attend a protest if the Trump campaign takes legal action to stop votes from being counted.

Executive Summary New polling from The Justice Collaborative Institute and Data for Progress shows bipartisan majority support for restoring voting rights to people who have returned home from prison. The polling also shows that more people support than oppose abolishing felony disenfranchisement entirely. In a national survey of 1,195 likely voters, 62% of respondents support enfranchising […]

Executive Summary New polling from Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute shows bipartisan support among Maricopa County voters for a County Attorney who will embrace new police accountability measures and support new protections against police violence.  Our research found that:  59% of voters, including 52% of Republicans, are more likely to vote for […]

Executive Summary In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a powerful nationwide movement emerged calling to divert money from the police as a solution to police brutality and the systemic racism inherent in current policing methods. In the movement’s view, diverting money would mean passing local policies that take funds originally earmarked […]

Executive Summary A Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute poll shows that nearly half of likely voters (47%) believe that they will know the winner of the presidential election on election day. These results are alarming because President Donald Trump continues to suggest, and media outlets continue to repeat, that the winner of […]

Executive Summary A Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute poll shows a bipartisan majority of Maricopa County voters—including 71% of Democrats and 51% Republicans—are more likely to vote for a county attorney who pledges to not prosecute women for seeking an abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.  These results make clear that Maricopa County […]

Executive Summary A new poll from The Justice Collaborative Institute and Data For Progress shows that in the event of a contested election that comes down to a single swing state, such as Pennsylvania, Republican voters would trust the Republican-controlled legislature of that state even if the Democratic Secretary of State and major media outlets […]

Executive Summary A Data For Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute poll shows extreme partisan polarization when it comes to who voters trust to call the results of the 2020 presidential election, including the presidential candidates themselves and the mainstream media. Republican voters overwhelmingly trust President Donald Trump to call the results of the presidential […]

New polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly support the creation of a CCC-like program to tackle today’s economic, social, and environmental crises.