Voters Want the American Families and Jobs Plans Passed Together Through Reconciliation

By Morgan Sperry and Ethan Winter

As part of a survey conducted from late-May to early-June, 2021, Invest in America and Data for Progress polled likely voters nationally to test support for passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. 

We find that likely voters nationally support passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan together using reconciliation. This support continues to hold even after voters are presented with the Republican counterproposal. Furthermore, likely voters blame Republicans in Congress for the failure to get the American Jobs Plan passed with support from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress. Likely voters also want to see the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan passed by Democrats as soon as possible—rather than wait and see if a bipartisan compromise can be reached. 

In addition, we find that likely voters want to pay for investments in infrastructure by taxing corporations, rather than repurposing pandemic relief funds. We also asked likely voters if the $400 billion investment in long-term care and $400 billion investment in clean energy technologies currently included in the American Jobs Plan should be cut. We find that likely voters overwhelmingly support keeping them in the infrastructure bill.

Voters support passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan together using reconciliation. 

We first asked likely voters about their support for passing the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together using reconciliation. We find that by a 33-percentage-point margin, likely voters support passing the two plans together using reconciliation. Likely voters who self-identify as Democrats and Independents support passing the two together by an 83-point margin and a 33-point margin, respectively. More than a third of likely voters who self-identify as Republicans support passing the two plans together using reconciliation, while 52 percent oppose this. 

 
 

A majority of voters want to see the American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan passed as soon as possible, rather than waiting for compromise.

Next, we asked likely voters about whether they want the American Families Plan passed now, using reconciliation, or whether its passage should wait until a compromise between Democratic and Republican lawmakers is secured. By a 13-point margin, likely voters want to pass the American Families Plan as soon as possible using reconciliation, rather than wait for a potential compromise. We find that Democrats back passing the American Families Plan as soon as possible using reconciliation by a 71-point margin. Independents and Republicans, by contrast, would prefer to wait for a bipartisan deal, by 3-points and 38-points, respectively.

 
 

We then reasked this question, with the focus this time being the American Jobs Plan. We find broadly similar results. By an 18-point margin, likely voters want to pass the American Jobs Plan as soon as possible using reconciliation, rather than wait to see if a compromise can be reached. Democrats and Independents back passing the American Jobs Plan as soon as possible, by margins of 69-points and 13-points. Thirty one percent of Republicans, meanwhile, support passing the bill as soon as possible, while 60 percent prefer to wait.

 
 

Voters want to pay for infrastructure investments by changing how corporations are taxed, not repurposing pandemic relief funds. 

Next, we asked likely voters how they would prefer to pay for investments in infrastructure: by increasing taxes on corporations—specifically, making it so they can’t deduct expenses they incur when outsourcing jobs—or reallocating unspent pandemic relief funds. By a 14-point margin, likely voters prefer to pay for infrastructure investments by changing how corporations are taxed rather than reallocating pandemic relief money. Democrats support changing how corporations are taxed by a 44-point margin, while Independents back changing the corporate tax code to finance new infrastructure spending over spending pandemic relief funds by a 22-point margin. Thirty-three percent of Republicans support changing the corporate tax code, while 55 percent would rather use pandemic relief funding.

 
 

Voters blame Republicans in Congress for failure to reach a bipartisan deal on paying for the American Jobs Plan.

We also asked whom likely voters blame for the failure to thus far reach a bipartisan deal on how to pay for the American Jobs Plan. We find that by a seven-point margin, likely voters blame Republicans in Congress, who have drawn a “red line” on raising taxes on corporations to pay for the American Jobs Plan. Democrats and Independents blame Republicans in Congress by margins of 39-points and 17-points, respectively. Notably, nearly a third of Republicans (31 percent) also blame Republicans in Congress—while 62 percent blame President Biden.

 
 

Voters don’t want the American Jobs Plan reduced in scale and scope.

Next, we asked likely voters about their support for components of the American Jobs Plan that are not traditionally defined as infrastructure, including long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities. We find that when presented with arguments for and against including $400 billion for long-term care in the American Jobs Plan, voters support keeping it in the plan by a 22-point margin. Democrats support keeping long-term care in the American Jobs Plan by a 63-point margin, while Independents back keeping it in by a 34-point margin. We find that over a third of Republicans support keeping long-term care in the American Jobs Plan, while 50 percent want it removed. 

 
 

We also asked likely voters about their support for keeping $400 billion for clean energy technologies in the American Jobs Plan. We find that when presented with arguments for and against, likely voters support maintaining this investment by a 28-point margin. Democrats support keeping investments in clean energy technologies in the American Jobs Plan by a 74-point margin, while Independents back this by a 38-point margin. Thirty four percent of Republicans support keeping $400 billion for clean energy technologies in the American Jobs Plan, while 57 percent want it removed.

 
 

Voters would rather pass the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together using reconciliation than the Republican alternative.

Finally, we asked likely voters if they would prefer to pass the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together using reconciliation, or just the smaller Republican counter-proposal. We find that by a 16-point margin, likely voters would rather see the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan passed together using reconciliation. Democrats and Independents prefer passing the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together using reconciliation by margins of 65-points, and 10-points, respectively. Nearly a third of Republicans back this dual investment, while 58 percent prefer to pass the Republican counter-proposal.

 
 

In conclusion, likely voters want to see the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan passed together using reconciliation—even when presented with the smaller Republican alternative.

Likely voters blame Republicans in Congress for the failure to pass the American Jobs Plan. When given the choice between passing the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan as soon as possible using reconciliation or waiting to find a bipartisan compromise, likely voters opt to pass both as soon as possible.

Finally, likely voters support changing how corporations are taxed to fund investments in infrastructure, rather than using repurposed pandemic relief funds. They also back keeping $400 billion investments in long-term care and clean energy technologies in the American Jobs Plan.

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 28 to June 1, 2021, Invest in America and Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,304 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.