Congressional GOP's Tax Plan Is Wildly Unpopular W/Public

The Republicans, with the support of Donald Trump, is trying to ram through Congress a tax plan that they claim will mostly benefit the middle class. But the American public is not buying that.

The chart above is from the website fivethirtyeight.com. It shows the average of five credible polls on the Trump/GOP tax plan, and compares that to the public's opinion on other tax cuts in the past. Note that every other tax cut in the past has a net approval rating from the public (ranging between +4 and +25). The Trump/GOP tax plan is different. It has a net approval rating of -14. That -14 rating is worse than the tax increases of 1990 and 1993.

Let me repeat that. The Trump/GOP tax cuts are less popular than the 1990 Bush I tax hike or the 1993 Clinton tax hike. That's pretty bad when polls have shown the public would support a tax cut. Why is this one so unpopular? The charts below show why. The public knows the GOP plan will give corporations a huge tax break, and they believe the wealthy will also get a tax break. But only 8% to 37% believe most Americans will get a tax cut.

Americans think the working and middle classes need a tax cut, and they would support a cut for those groups. But they don't want a cut for the rich and corporations -- the two groups that are currently doing better economically than ever before.

The charts below use information in a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between November 26th and 28th of a random national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,319 registered voters), with a 3.2 point margin of error.