Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Could Drive Civic Engagement
Earlier this year, SaverLife partnered with Liberation in a Generation, an organization hyper-focused on closing the racial wealth gap, to understand how SaverLife’s members of color connected their current economic circumstances to systemic racism and pervasive inequality. We wanted to know what policy ideas our members believed would most effectively close the gap and how motivating these policies could be in spurring civic action.
Given all that continues to rock our nation —the on-going health and economic crises of COVID-19, the powerful movement for racial justice that is sweeping the country, and an upcoming, deeply divisive national election—we thought we should check back in and see if opinions and priorities related to the racial wealth gap had shifted.
The results may surprise you. They should also inspire you.
We asked respondents to rate the overall popularity of nine bold policy proposals. All nine saw significant gains, with support increasing across the board by an average of 10% compared to December 2019. Rising to the top of the priority list? Clean air and drinking water, which saw a 13% gain, followed by safe and affordable housing (+7%) and free healthcare (+8%).
Newer ideas, like universal basic income, remained lower on our members’ priority list but still saw impressive gains (+13%) compared to the prior survey.
The current circumstances are inspiring action: SaverLife members of color are fired up and ready to vote. An overwhelming 84% of those surveyed plan to vote in November, and the majority will vote up and down the ballot—with the potential to impact policies affecting members of color locally and nationally.
Perhaps the most encouraging finding: the number of those who believe “their vote doesn’t matter” dropped by 11%, further demonstrating that people are energized about the power of their vote and are ready to exercise it.
SaverLife is responding to support this energy in the most powerful way we know how—launching a get out the vote campaign that seeks to mobilize our members to register, plan, and vote this November.
I said it once, and I’ll say it again. The most important action we can take to increase financial stability and economic mobility is to get out the vote. So let’s get to it.