The Build Back Better Plan Remains Popular
By Anika Dandekar and Ethan Winter
From September 10 to 13, 2021, Invest in America and Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,188 likely voters nationally. We sought to measure likely voters’ opinions towards the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, as well as more general attitudes towards raising taxes on the wealthy.
The Investment and Infrastructure Act Remains Popular
Voters support the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by a +40-percentage-point margin. Likely voters that self-identify as Democrats, Independents, and Republicans support the plan by margins of +71 points, +43 points, and +5 points, respectively.
Voters Back the Build Back Better Plan
Among all voters, the Build Back Better plan is backed by a margin of +32 points. Democrats and Independents support the plan with respective margins of +78 and +25 points. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans support the plan, while 52 percent oppose it.
Voters Back All Provisions of the Build Back Better Plan
We then tested support for the individual provisions of the Build Back Better plan. We find majority support for all provisions. Investments in long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities are backed with a margin of +67 points. Modernizing K-12 school buildings, modernizing the electricity grid, and allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices are all supported by margins of at least +55 points. Creating a Civilian Climate Corps, lowering the Medicare age, universal pre-K, and tuition-free community college are all supported by margins of at least +25 points. A pathway to citizenship is backed by a margin of +22 points. Expanding child tax benefits is supported by a +9-point margin.
Voters Back Build Back Better Plan Pay-Fors
Voters overwhelmingly support the ways the Build Back Better plan is paid for. Raising capital gains taxes on those who make more than $1 million dollars and on wealthy business owners are both supported by margins of at least +40 points. Raising income taxes on those who earn over $400,000 annually and increasing I.R.S. funding are both supported by margins of at least +36 points. Increasing the corporate tax rate is backed by a +33-point margin.
When voters were provided with arguments for and against the Build Back Better plan, they still supported it by a +33-point margin. Democrats and Independents supported it with respective margins of +78 and +26 points. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans support the plan, while 51 percent oppose it.
Voters Are Enthusiastic About Allowing Medicare to Negotiate the Price of Prescription Drugs
Within the Build Back Better plan, allowing Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs is one of the ways that the plan is paid for. We tested whether likely voters support the use of this proposal as a revenue raiser for increased social spending. We find that likely voters support this by a margin of +56 points. By margins of +82 points, +53 points, and +28 points, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans support this, respectively.
Voters Want to Raise Taxes on the Wealthy
By a +37-point margin, likely voters say they would be more likely to support a lawmaker in Congress if that lawmaker votes to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund increased social spending. Looking at responses broken out by partisanship, we find that Democrats, Independents, and Republicans report they would be more likely to support a lawmaker that does this by margins of +68 points, +33 points, +5 points, respectively.
Arguments about not raising taxes on the wealthy are not especially persuasive. We find that a majority (61 percent) of likely voters say that we should raise taxes on the wealthy so that they “pay their fair share” and that likely voters are not intimidated by threats that the wealthy may move their money abroad. A majority of Democrats (78 percent) and Independents (58 percent), along with a plurality of Republicans (46 percent), all support raising taxes on the wealthy.
Toplines for this polling can be found here.
Anika Dandekar is polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Ethan Winter (@EthanBWinter) is a senior analyst at Data for Progress. You can email him at ethan@dataforprogress.org.