On the Inflation Reduction Act, Voters Have Heard Very Little
By Alvin Gunnion and Sabrina Jacobs
Since the passage of the Biden Administration’s signature legislative package, Democratic messaging has primarily focused on other topics in the run up to the 2022 midterm elections.
In a recent survey, Data for Progress asked voters to identify if a given provision was in fact part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The chart below displays the percentage of voters who say the given provision was part of the legislation.
We find that only 44 percent of voters believe that the Inflation Reduction Act allows Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies, 33 percent of voters believe that the bill sets a corporate minimum tax rate of 15 percent, 32 percent believe that it increases funding for the IRS to hire new agents, 32 percent believe that it provides tax credits for the production of solar and wind energy, and only 16 percent of voters believe that the bill raises enough revenue to reduce the deficit by $300 billion.
Of provisions that were not part of the final legislation, voters are similarly unsure if these were part of the law, with 24 percent of voters believing that the Inflation Reduction Act extends the Child Tax Credit initially introduced in the American Rescue Plan, 20 percent believing that the bill delivers free community college education to lower- or middle-income Americans, and 16 percent believing that it provides free pre-kindergarten education as part of the public education system. The months of debate over the size and scope of the final reconciliation package evidently sowed confusion among voters regarding what Democratic priorities were included in the final bill.
Despite the significance of the Inflation Reduction Act, our polling also reveals that a majority (63 percent) of voters have not seen political ads related to the bill. Only 24 percent of voters have seen or heard any political ads mentioning the bill. Among those who have seen ads about it, voters are evenly split over the stance of those ads toward the Inflation Reduction Act, with 35 percent of voters saying they were mostly positive ads and 31 percent saying they saw mostly negative ads.
In a summer 2022 poll, the think tank Third Way found that only 24 percent of voters thought that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was signed into law. Inspired by this finding, Data for Progress asked voters to identify the current status of the Inflation Reduction Act. Only 39 percent of voters say that the bill has been passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. This includes 42 percent of Democrats, 41 percent of Independents, and 35 percent of Republicans. Twenty-seven percent of voters believe that lawmakers in Congress are still debating the bill and it hasn't passed yet. Only 3 percent of voters think that lawmakers are no longer considering the bill.
Notably, only 27 percent of voters under 45 know the Inflation Reduction Act has been signed into law by President Biden — a significant knowledge gap among a group of voters who are notoriously difficult to turn out in midterm election years. Though over half of young Americans say the U.S. has not done enough to address the climate crisis, a majority of voters under 45 are unaware of the landmark investment in clean energy that was passed into law this summer.
Despite voters’ lack of clarity around the components and the status of the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill is popular. Fifty-four percent of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act, including 78 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Independents, and 32 percent of Republicans.
The Inflation Reduction Act delivered tangible legislative victories on prescription drug pricing, clean energy, and economic fairness that Democrats have been chasing for years. However, Democrats have chosen to focus their messaging on a variety of issues ranging from abortion rights to threats to democracy. With the economy top of mind for voters as they prepare to cast their ballots in the midterm elections, it is clear that Democratic messaging on the key economic provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act is failing to reach voters. As Democrats work to keep their majority in Congress, it’s crucial that voters are aware of what Democrats have accomplished in the past two years.
Alvin Gunnion (@alvingunnion) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.
Sabrina Jacobs (@bri_jacobs) is a digital fellow at Data for Progress.