June 18, 2021
Anna Greenberg, GQR
A majority of Massachusetts voters oppose a bill pushed by Big Tech firms like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash that would deny app-based workers the protections and benefits guaranteed to all Massachusetts employees.1 Less than one third support the bill even when told that there will be a “replacement” for the pre-existing protections and benefits employees are currently entitled to.
This finding stands in direct contrast to a poll conducted by Beacon Research, which misrepresented the nature of the legislation by suggesting that the legislation would provide additional benefits to app-based workers when, in fact, it exempts these workers from the protections and benefits guaranteed to all other employees in Massachusetts.2
Figure 1: Majority of voters oppose bill
Massachusetts has some of the strongest worker protection laws in the country, which are overwhelmingly supported across political party and other demographic groups.
Figure 2: Support for protections and benefits guaranteed to Massachusetts employees
1 GQR conducted a survey of 602 voters in Massachusetts. The survey was conducted by live interviewers from June 3-8, 2021. The overall margin of error is +/- 3.99 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence interval. Margin of error is higher among subgroups.
2 The exact wording from the Beacon Poll is as follows: “A proposal has been submitted to the state legislature that would provide additional benefits to app-based drivers, while also protecting drivers’ independence and access to flexible work. Drivers would remain independent contractors, and therefore not entitled to all the benefits of being an employee, but they would receive more benefits than they do now.”