Voters Support the American Families and Jobs Plan and Want Them Passed Together
By Morgan Sperry and Ethan Winter
As part of a survey conducted in mid-May, 2021, Invest in America and Data for Progress polled likely voters nationally to test support for the American Families Plan and the American Jobs Plan. In addition, we asked likely voters how they want Republicans in Congress to behave towards President Biden.
We find that likely voters support passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan together using reconciliation. Furthermore, when given the choice between paying for investments in American infrastructure by reforming the corporate tax code or spending leftover pandemic relief money and increasing user fees, a majority of likely voters who self-identify as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents support changing how corporations are taxed.
Moreover, we find that a majority of likely voters prefer the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan over the smaller Republican counter-proposal. Likely voters also want congressional Republicans to work with Biden to pass the American Jobs Plan, the American Families Plan, and the rest of Biden’s agenda, rather than try to simply obstruct the Democratic Party.
Voters support passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan using reconciliation.
First, we asked likely voters about their support for passing the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together using reconciliation. We find that by a 24-percentage-point margin, likely voters support passing the two bills using reconciliation. This includes a majority of Democrats and Independents, who support passing the bills using reconciliation by margins of 72-points and 17-points, respectively. Republicans are split: while thirty-three percent support this, 60 percent oppose it.
Voters want to pay for investments in infrastructure by changing how corporations are taxed.
We asked likely voters how they would prefer to pay for investments in America’s infrastructure: by reforming the corporate tax code — specifically, by closing loopholes so that corporations can’t deduct expenses incurred when outsourcing jobs — or by spending leftover pandemic relief money and increasing user fees. We find that by a 41-point margin, likely voters support paying for investments in infrastructure by changing how corporations are taxed. This includes a majority of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, who support changing the corporate tax code as opposed to using unspent pandemic relief funds and raising user fees by margins of 41-points, 43-points, and 20-points, respectively.
Voters back the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan over the Republican alternative.
Next, we presented likely voters with details about the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan as well as the Republican counter-proposal — including how the differing plans would be paid for. By a 19-point margin, likely voters prefer the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan to the Republican alternative. Democrats and Independents prefer the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan by margins of 54-points and seven-points. Republicans prefer the counter-offer by a margin of 17-points (31 percent prefer the American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan, 48 percent prefer the Republican counteroffer).
Voters want Republicans in Congress to work with Biden to pass the American Jobs Plan.
We then asked likely voters if Republicans should work with Biden to pass the American Jobs Plan. By a 15-point margin, likely voters think that Republicans in Congress should find ways to work together with Biden on passing the American Jobs Plan. This includes a majority of Democrats and Independents, who think that Republicans should work with Biden by margins of 72-points and 18-points, respectively. While 22 percent of Republicans want Republicans in Congress to work with Biden on the American Jobs Plan, 74 percent don’t.
Voters want Republicans in Congress to work with Biden to pass the American Families Plan.
Next, we asked likely voters if Republicans should work with Biden to pass the American Families Plan. By a 16-point margin, likely voters think that Republicans in Congress should find ways to work together with Biden on passing the American Families Plan. This includes a majority of Democrats and Independents, who think that Republicans should work with Biden by margins of 68-points and 24-points, respectively. While 24 percent of Republicans want Republicans in Congress to work with Biden on passing this proposal, 72 percent don’t.
Voters oppose Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism — and believe that the goal of Republicans should be to work with President Biden to pass his agenda.
Last, we presented voters with a recent quote from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, where he said that “100 percent of [his] focus is on stopping this new Biden administration.” We then asked if Republicans in Congress should work with Biden to pass the president’s agenda or whether Republicans in Congress should do what McConnell says and try to stop Biden.
We find that by an 18-point margin, likely voters think that the goal of Republicans in Congress should be to work with President Biden to pass his agenda, and disagree with Senate Minority Leader McConnell.
Likely voters support using reconciliation to pass the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, and a majority of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans support changing how corporations are taxed in order to fund investments in infrastructure.
Likely voters prefer the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan to Senator Capito and Senate Republicans’ smaller counter-proposal. Furthermore, majorities of likely voters want Republicans to work with Biden to pass the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, and reject Mitch McConnell’s obstructionist agenda.
Toplines can be found here.
Morgan Sperry (@MorganRSperry) is an analyst at Data for Progress.
Ethan Winter (@EthanBWinter) is a senior analyst at Data for Progress. You can email him at ethan@dataforprogress.org.
Methodology
From May 14 to 17, 2021, Invest in America and Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,214 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.