Regarding how low-income families use their benefits, Americans don’t want to play Big Brother about sugary beverages.
That’s the finding of a December poll from Public Opinion Strategies, on behalf of American Beverage, which asked if people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly called “food stamps,” should use them for soft drinks and sugar-sweetened beverages.
A majority (64%) said yes, including 58% of those who voted for President Trump in the 2024 election and 71% of Americans without college degrees.
Interestingly, 64% of those with a favorable view of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement oppose banning sodas from SNAP benefits.
Traditionally, Republican voters have been quick to support cuts or restrictions on welfare programs. Now, party members say the change in the GOP’s base is changing the political calculations.
For example, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., represent districts where many residents receive government benefits. And a group of Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to Johnson urging the House to avoid cutting SNAP benefits.
“While we fully support efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse, we must ensure that assistance programs — such as SNAP — remain protected,” they wrote.
John Burnett is the first vice chair for the New York State Republican Party and a Black leader in the GOP. “President Trump forged a broad coalition of support to win the White House. It was something only he could do, but the entire party benefited,” Burnett said. “Now, as Congress and others contemplate new policies, they need to be smart to not alienate working-class individuals and families — the very voting bloc that brought Republicans success in 2024.”
SNAP accounts for nearly 68% of the Agriculture Department’s nutrition assistance spending. After hovering between $60 billion and $80 billion through most of the 2010s, spending skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic as extra benefits were added. SNAP spending was $127 billion in 2023 and $112 billion last year as pandemic benefits expired. The program gave food stamps to 42 million Americans.
Rather than limiting how the benefits can be used, the libertarian Cato Institute has suggested that the food stamp program be turned into a fixed block grant for states and that work retirements should be increased.
House Agriculture Committee chair GT Thompson, R-Pa., said this month that he does not expect SNAP benefits to be cut as Congress hammers a budget resolution.
In a statement, American Beverage noted that it’s not Trump proposing these restrictions. “Working-class families and individuals across America rose up to vote for President Trump on the promise of a new era that would lift them up, not leave them behind again. Proponents of SNAP restrictions would betray these voters and that promise.”
Taylor Millard writes about politics and public policy for InsideSources.com.