Public Backs Parts Of Infrastructure Plan That GOP Opposes

President Biden has introduced an infrastructure plan that he wants Congress to pass. It would cost about $2.2 trillion over several years, and he wants to pay for it by raising taxes on corporations and those making over $400,000 a year.

The Republicans in Congress oppose the plan. They say it has too much in it and the country can't afford it. They want to restrict the plan to rebuilding some bridges and roads, without raising taxes on the rich (or corporations).

Once again -- like with the Coronavirus Stimulus bill -- the GOP officials find themselves in opposition to what the public wants.

This chart is from the Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between March 26th and 29th of a national sample of 2,043 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error. 

It shows that the public likes the parts of President Biden's plan that the GOP opposes. 

Here is part of how Jennifer Rubin describes this in The Washington Post:

News pundits have been predicting a reckoning for President Biden: He’s risking his agenda with a big tax plan! Paying for infrastructure is politically perilous!

Maybe not. The latest Morning Consult/Politico poll finds that “voters broadly support this expanded notion of infrastructure, with measures like increasing housing options for low-income families garnering the support of 70 percent of registered voters, including 87 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans.”

Gosh, it’s just like Biden’s covid-19 stimulus package. Republicans in Congress are dead-set against it, but a lot of their own voters think it is a fine idea.

Other progressive priorities get varying levels of support. According to the poll, 63 percent of respondents support using money for climate change research, while 60 percent support free community college. Expanding the country’s electric vehicle charging network gets 59 percent.

The kicker: The bill is more popular with the tax hikes than without them. “57% of voters say they’d be more likely to support Biden’s infrastructure plan if it were funded by tax increases on those making over $400,000,” the poll found. “47% of voters say they’d be more likely to support the $3 trillion proposal if it were funded by increases to the corporate tax rate.” Only 27 percent support infrastructure without tax hikes, which appears to be the GOP’s stance. A plurality of Republican voters (42 percent) — well short of a majority — favor that approach. (Remember the good old days when Republicans cared about debt?) Among independents, 52 percent support the plan with tax hikes while only 26 percent support an infrastructure bill without them.

The media, it seems, are caught in a Republican framing of policy that does not match reality. There is not a hue and cry over a mammoth infrastructure bill. To the contrary, it is super popular. And Republicans might want to stop harping on the tax increases: Those make the bill even more popular. . . .

Republicans’ 2017 bet on huge tax cuts for richer Americans and for corporations not only failed to pay for themselves; there is little evidence they had any significant, long-lasting benefit for the economy. If you are going to bet on future returns, why not get bridges, roads, internet and other tangible benefits?

I have previously suggested that the pandemic and recession, much like the Great Depression, may have shifted the country’s politics. Voters want more government. They are not shy about saying who should pay for it. (Perhaps the hundreds of billions of stimulus dollars handed out to corporations left many voters thinking corporations should start paying more.) If that is so, Biden is not taking a big risk; he is playing it safe. It may be Republicans who are playing with fire in opposing popular legislation, just as they did on the relief plan. (The shift in opinion on more activist government may explain why Biden gets a 57/39 percent favorable/unfavorable rating, while Republicans in Congress get a dreadful 36/55 favorable/unfavorable rating.)