New Sutherland Institute report and polling show strong, bipartisan support for state innovation and “Empowerment Accounts” to simplify the safety net, lift people out of poverty

New polling from Sutherland Institute and Y2 Analytics finds broad support for empowering state innovation and testing empowerment accounts that replace multiple welfare programs with one streamlined, work-focused benefit.

SALT LAKE CITY (July 7, 2026) — A new report released by Sutherland Institute today shows bipartisan support in Utah and across the country for increasing state-led innovation in social welfare reform, and testing a different approach to helping families move out of poverty: “empowerment accounts”.

Empowerment accounts are a concept that would consolidate funding from multiple federal assistance programs – such as SNAP, TANF, child care assistance, and housing vouchers – into one streamlined, work-focused benefit. The account would gradually phase out as people earn more to consistently incentivize work and earnings. The report argues for testing empowerment accounts in a state-level pilot.

“The safety net reform conversation has traditionally focused on how to improve a system that was built in piecemeal fashion over decades,” said Nic Dunn, Sutherland Institute VP of Strategy, Senior Fellow and author of the report. “The Empowerment Account concept is an answer to a different question: if we were designing the safety net today with the ultimate goal of work-based independence, what would it look like?”

The report, The Safety Net We’d Build Today: Empowerment Accounts as a State-Led Pilot Concept, argues that the philosophical foundations of the War on Poverty, the mounting evidence for the need for reform, and the growing momentum at the state level call for more state-led innovation to test things like empowerment accounts.

New polling conducted by Sutherland Institute and Y2 Analytics suggests voters are ready for a different approach:

• 75% of U.S. voters and 74% of Utah voters say the federal government should give states more flexibility to administer social safety-net programs.
• Nationally, 74% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans support empowerment accounts. In Utah, 75% of Democrats, 70% of Independents, and 60% of Republicans support empowerment accounts.
• Nationally, 65% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans support federal reforms that would allow states to combine funding from multiple safety net programs. In Utah, 69% of both Democrats and Republicans support that federal reform.
• The report also highlights the Upward Mobility Act, introduced in Congress in January 2026 by U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), as an opportunity to test the concept. The legislation would allow up to five states to combine funding from 10 federal anti-poverty programs into a single funding stream, giving states more flexibility to design programs that help families move toward self-sufficiency.

The report emphasizes that empowerment accounts are different from universal basic income. Participants would still need to meet eligibility requirements, comply with work expectations, and follow spending rules. It also recommends that states test the model through a voluntary, randomized pilot program to measure its effectiveness.

The Sutherland Institute report recommends state leaders begin planning empowerment account pilot programs, while they continue to support passage of the Upward Mobility Act.

Read the new report and survey data here: The Safety Net We’d Build Today: Empowerment Accounts as a State-Led Pilot Concept

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