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Most Americans approve of letting people work from home. But like many things in the US, that perception depends on ones politics.

While Republicans are overall positive about remote work, they were less likely to approve of it compared with Democrats (81 percent versus 89 percent), according to a new poll by Vox and Data for Progress.

Additionally, Republicans were less likely to say remote workers labored just as hard or harder than non-remote workers (50 percent versus 75 percent).

Republicans were also less likely than Democrats to say remote workers were equally or more productive than non-remote workers (57 percent versus 71 percent).

The survey of more than 1,000 people was conducted online earlier this month and is weighted to be representative of the US adult population.

Despite the difference between Republicans and Democrats, the high approval rate overall is a good sign for those who would like to continue working from home after the pandemic. Positive perceptions about remote work could help ensure its continuance especially since workers and their employers have some disagreements about the future of remote work.

More than half of Americans worked from home earlier in the pandemic. And it went surprisingly well, with workers, their managers, and objective studies reporting that employees maintained or increased their levels of productivity.

So it makes sense that over the course of the pandemic, employees desire to continue working from home increased, and so did employers willingness to let them. But theres still a gap between what employees want and what employers say theyre going to do, according to data from a study authored in part by Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom. Employees would like to work from home about half the time, while employers plan to let them do so about one day a week.

As the more acute effects of the pandemic are subsiding and the number of people who work remotely is declining, numerous surveys of employers as well as a giant increase in the number of remote job listings suggest that many Americans will continue to work from home at least some of the time even when the pandemic ends. Whats less clear is how often that will be.

As for the difference between Republicans and Democrats, its possible the survey responses reflect the political makeup of remote workers. The survey sample size wasnt large enough to accurately look at the political parties of those who worked remotely. However, the responses were equally positive among people who did and didnt work remotely. Thats consistent with data from Boston Consulting Group that said the majority of people, regardless of whether it was feasible in their industry, wanted to work remotely.

But we also know that states whose voters lean Republican had a lower rate of working from home during the pandemic (30 percent) than Democratic states (35 percent), according to the Bloom study, which measured the overall work from home rate at 33 percent from May 2020 to March 2021. The desire to work from home after Covid-19 was only slightly higher for Democrats (46 percent versus 45 for Republicans).

Trump aligned the Republican Party to being more working-class and less educated, and these jobs have a far lower ability to work from home, Bloom told Recode in an email.

Overall, though, working from home is a valuable perk, with the average employee saying its worth about 7 percent of their salary, according to Blooms study. Its not worth much more than that. Our survey, which asked whether people would prefer the ability to work from home or to receive a 10 percent pay raise, found that two-thirds of people would go for the raise.

In addition to the 25 percent of employed people whose jobs are currently fully remote, another 30 percent said some of their work could be done remotely. Its likely more jobs will have remote possibilities as employers use it as a perk to attract workers in whats a very tight job market.

How commonplace remote work ends up being remains to be seen, but proponents of the practice have public opinion on their side.

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Democrats and Republicans opinions on working from home vary - Vox.com

Congressional Democrats introduced a bill Friday to rename more than 1,000 places in the US named with offensive language and racist slurs.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey, and Rep. Al Green introduced the bill along with 25 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, all Democrats.

Lawmakers first introduced the bill last year with Rep. Deb Haaland, who now serves as the secretary of the interior as the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history.

"We need to immediately stop honoring the ugly legacy of racism and bigotry, and that's why I'm introducing the Reconciliation in Place Names Act with my colleagues," Warren said in a statement.

Read more: White farmers blocked a much-needed federal relief program for Black farmers. The saga proves Black farmers won't overcome racism unless they take their economic future into their own hands.

The bill would take aim at land units and geographic features, like forests, streams, and wilderness areas, with racist or bigoted names. It would create a process to review and rename places with inoffensive names. According to the statement from the lawmakers, questionable names have been identified for 1,441 federally recognized places.

More than 600 places have the word "n----," a slur for Black people, in their name, according to a database from the US Geological Survey. In Oklahoma there is Dead N---- Spring, so-named because a deceased Black person was found there, according to the USGS.

In New Mexico, there is a reservoir called W------ Tank, named with a slur for Mexican people living in the US. Nearly 800 results are returned by the USGS database when searching for the term "s----," an offensive word for Native American women.

"These terms are harmful relics from the era of invidious yet lawful discrimination that must be removed from public property," Congressman Green said. "Racism, even in geography, cannot be tolerated in a country that strives for liberty and justice for all."

The bill would establish an advisory board of civil rights experts and tribal organizations and solicit comment from the public on name change proposals. The board would then make renaming recommendations to the proper government body, such as Congress in the case of federal land units.

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Democrats introduce bill to rename places named with racist slurs - Business Insider

President Biden addresses the issue of voting rights Tuesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

President Biden addresses the issue of voting rights Tuesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

In a speech this week, President Biden said Democrats must 'vigorously challenge' what he described as the '21st Century Jim Crow assault' on voting rights, attacking Republican-led state efforts to pass new voting restrictions.

Democrats, Vice President Kamala Harris told NPR, must respond on multiple levels: "It will be litigation, legislation, it will be activating the people."

Harris spoke to NPR political correspondent Asma Khalid. Hear more on the NPR Politics Podcast via Apple, Google, or Spotify.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Brent Baughman, Ayen Bior, and Brianna Scott. It was edited by Sami Yenigun, Lee Hale, Justine Kenin, Brett Neely, and Ben Swasey. Our executive producer is Cara Tallo.

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How Will Democrats Respond To New Voting Restrictions? : Consider This from NPR - NPR

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The Texas House voted Tuesday to send law enforcement to track down Democrats who left the state a day earlier in protest of Republicans priority elections legislation under warrant of arrest if necessary.

More than 50 House Democrats left Monday for Washington, D.C., to deny the chamber a quorum the minimum number of lawmakers needed to conduct business as it takes up voting restrictions and other GOP priorities in special session.

The impact of the House move is unclear since Texas law enforcement lacks jurisdiction in the nation's capital.

Meeting shortly after 10 a.m., the House quickly established that it lacked the two-thirds quorum required to do business, with only 80 of 150 members participating in a test vote.

Then Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, chair of the House Administration Committee, moved to issue what is known as a call of the House to try to regain quorum. That motion passed 76-4. Metcalf offered another motion, asking that the sergeant at arms, or officers appointed by him, send for all absentees under warrant of arrest if necessary. That motion also passed 76-4.

Metcalf's motions were opposed by four Democrats who were present on the House floor Tuesday morning: Reps. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Tracy King of Batesville, Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass and John Turner of Dallas.

After Metcalf's motions passed, Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, sought to move to strip absent Democrats of their committee leadership posts if they do not return by noon Wednesday. The motion did not immediately get a vote, and in a subsequent exchange with Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said committee chairs and vice chairs cannot be removed from their positions under the current chamber rules.

Earlier Tuesday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a radio interview that any Democrats who fled the state should lose their committee leadership posts.

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Texas House Republicans vote to track down absent Democrats and arrest them if necessary - The Texas Tribune

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Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives left the state Monday afternoon en route to Washington, D.C., in a bid to again deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new voting restrictions with 26 days left in a special legislative session called largely for that purpose.

Upping the ante in both the legislative fight at home and the national debate over voting rights, most House Democrats boarded two planes out of Austin headed for the U.S. capital without a set return date. At least 51 of the 67 Democratic representatives the number needed to break quorum were in the process of leaving Monday afternoon, most arriving at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Monday to board chartered flights that departed around 3:10 p.m.

The House is set to reconvene Tuesday morning, but the absent Democrats would mean there will not be enough members present to conduct business under House rules.

Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans freedom to vote," Democratic leaders said in a joint statement released Monday.

With the national political spotlight on Texas efforts to further restrict voting, the Democratic exodus offers them a platform to continue pleading with Congress to act on restoring federal protections for voters of color. In Texas, the decamping will mark a more aggressive stance by Democrats to block Republican legislation further tightening the states voting rules as the GOP works against thinning statewide margins of victory.

Ultimately, Democrats lack the votes to keep the Republican-controlled Legislature from passing new voting restrictions, along with the other conservative priorities on Gov. Greg Abbotts 11-item agenda for the special session.

Some Democrats hope their absence will give them leverage to force good-faith negotiations with Republicans, who they say have largely shut them out of negotiations over the voting bill. Both chambers advanced their legislation out of committees on party-line votes after overnight hearings, passing out the bills Sunday after hearing hours of testimony mostly against the proposals and just a few days after making their revived proposals public. The bills were expected to hit the House and Senate floors for votes this week.

The House and Senate proposals resemble failed legislation, known as Senate Bill 7, from the spring regular legislative session the demise of which Texas Democrats used last month to make their pitch on Capitol Hill for action on voting rights.

On Monday, Democrats indicated they were renewing their calls for Congress to pass far-reaching federal legislation that would preempt significant portions of the Texas bills and reinstate federal oversight of elections in states with troubling records.

We are now taking the fight to our nations Capitol," the Democrats said in their statement. "We are living on borrowed time in Texas."

The Democrats convened at a local plumbers union building and boarded a bus that transported them to a private airport terminal. They arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shortly after 2:30 p.m., driving straight onto the tarmac.

Lawmakers did not speak with the media before they left. Terminal staff kept reporters off the premises and on the street outside. By 3 p.m., several supporters of the legislators were gathered outside the terminal, holding signs that said, "Let my people vote," and, "Thank you for fighting voter suppression."

The bulk of House Democrats arrived in Washington, D.C., around 7 p.m. Central time Monday.

Even if Democratic lawmakers stay out of state for the next few weeks, the governor could continue to call 30-day sessions or add voting restrictions to the agenda when the Legislature takes on the redrawing of the states political maps later this summer.

Mondays mass departure follows a Democratic walkout in May that kept Republicans from passing their priority voting bill at the end of the regular legislative session. For weeks, Democrats had indicated that skipping town during the special session remained an option as Republicans prepared for a second attempt at tightening the states voting laws.

House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in a statement later Monday that the chamber "will use every available resource under the Texas Constitution and the unanimously-passed House rules to secure a quorum..."

Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, panned Democrats over the move, saying it inflicts harm on the very Texans who elected them to serve.

As they fly across the country on cushy private planes, they leave undone issues that can help their districts and our state, Abbott said in a statement Monday afternoon. The Democrats must put aside partisan political games and get back to the job they were elected to do.

According to House rules adopted at the beginning of the regular session, two-thirds of the 150-member chamber must be present to conduct business. When the House is in session, legislators can vote to lock chamber doors to prevent colleagues from leaving and can order law enforcement to track down lawmakers who have already fled.

If a quorum is not present when the House convenes Tuesday, any House member can move to make whats known as a call of the House to to secure and maintain a quorum to consider a certain piece of legislation, resolution or motion, under chamber rules. That motion must be seconded by 15 members and ordered by a majority vote. If that happens, the missing Democrats will become legislative fugitives.

All absentees for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found, by the sergeant-at-arms or an officer appointed by the sergeant-at-arms for that purpose, and their attendance shall be secured and retained, the House rules state. The house shall determine on what conditions they shall be discharged.

Its unclear, though, what options Phelan may have to compel Democrats to return to the Legislature if theyre out of state.

The House voting bill as passed by committee over the weekend would rein in local voting initiatives like drive-thru and 24-hour voting, further tighten the rules for voting by mail, bolster access for partisan poll watchers and ban local election officials from proactively sending out applications to request mail-in ballots.

The Democrats departure also calls into question other items included on Abbotts special session agenda, including legislation to provide funding for the Legislature. Last month, Abbott vetoed a section of the state budget that funds the Legislature for the two-year budget cycle that starts Sept. 1. He did so in retribution for Democrats walkout in May. If the Legislature does not pass a supplemental budget before the new cycle begins, more than 2,100 legislative staffers and individuals working at legislative agencies could be impacted.

Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.

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Texas Democrats attempt to block voting bill by fleeing state - The Texas Tribune