Project 2025’s Economic and Health Care Policies Concern Voters
By William Diep
Project 2025 is a set of conservative policy recommendations developed by the Heritage Foundation that serves as a blueprint for the next Republican president to transform the federal government. The policies range from privatizing Medicare and defunding Medicaid to firing thousands of civil service employees, eliminating the Department of Education, and placing the Department of Justice under direct presidential control.
With less than four weeks until the election, new polling from Data for Progress finds that likely voters have heard mostly negative things about Project 2025 and are worried about its policy proposals, including those that would reduce health care and economic benefits for low- and middle-income Americans.
First, voters were asked how much they have seen, read, or heard about Project 2025. Seventy-seven percent of voters have heard at least a little about Project 2025, including 85% of Democrats, 78% of Independents, and 68% of Republicans.
The survey asked likely voters who say they have heard “a little” or “a lot” about Project 2025 whether what they’ve heard has been mostly positive, negative, or neutral. Sixty-three percent of these voters, including 72% of both Democrats and Independents, have heard mostly negative information about Project 2025. A plurality of Republicans (44%) have also heard mostly negative things about Project 2025.
More than 4 in 10 voters, including a plurality of Independents (42%), think former President Donald Trump supports Project 2025. Trump has denied involvement with Project 2025 policy proposals, but many of his top former aides, including Paul Dans, chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during Trump’s administration, and Spencer Chretien, Trump’s former special assistant, have close affiliations with the project. Only 22% of voters, including 19% of Independents, think Trump does not support Project 2025.
The Project 2025 proposals most concerning to voters are privatizing Medicare (77%), reducing overtime benefits (77%), repealing a policy that capped insulin costs at $35 or less per month (76%), cutting spending on Medicaid (75%), placing the Department of Justice under direct presidential control (74%), eliminating the Department of Education (72%), and lowering taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations (68%).
More than half of likely voters are concerned about every policy tested in the survey.
An additional question asked respondents to rank the top three Project 2025 policies that most concern them. The Project 2025 policies most concerning to Independent voters are lowering taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations (32%), privatizing Medicare (30%), eliminating the Department of Education (29%), placing the Department of Justice under direct presidential control (29%), cutting spending on Medicaid (26%), and signing a national ban on abortion pills (21%).
These findings show that voters, including Independents, are concerned about the economic and health care changes that Project 2025 proposes. Despite Trump’s claim that he is not involved with Project 2025, a plurality of voters, including Independents, believe he supports the platform and its many unpopular provisions.
William Diep (@WilliamDiep6) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.
Cover photo attributable to Gage Skidmore.