Broad Support for Build Back Better Continues

The agenda President Biden ran and won on in 2020 continues to be broadly popular but only 35% of Americans are “hearing a lot about it,” including only 13% of Independents. That’s a problem. Coconino Democrats are going to do their part to overcome the communication gap by holding a Rally for Build Back Better on October 23.

Meanwhile, let’s review what’s in the plan and the most recent polling released today.

  • Majorities of Americans continue to support Biden and Democrats’ Build Back Better economic agenda.
  • Pairing arguments that the new economic plan will not raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000 annually with lowering healthcare costs is our most effective lane.
  • Policies that are top reasons to pass the plan and that Americans see helping people like them focus on expanding Medicare, making prescription drugs and healthcare more affordable, and raising taxes on the rich and corporations.

Three in five Americans continue to support Biden and Democrats’ economic plan both when policies from the legislation are listed and when proposals for paying for the plan are listed.

Support for the Build Back Better agenda is driven by a desire for making sure the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, reducing prescription drug costs, and expanding Medicare benefits. Each component of the economic plan is seen as a good reason to pass the plan by at least two in three Americans, ranging from 66 percent to 80 percent. Specifically, policies that focus on imposing higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations and policies that reduce health care costs repeatedly emerge as the most important reasons to pass the economic plan.

  • When given a list of proposals in the Build Back Better plan, the best reasons to support it include “lowering health insurance premiums for people who buy health care on their own” (84 percent say it is a good reason to pass the plan, including 72 percent of Independents), “expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing coverage” (82 percent, including 74 percent of Independents), and “giving Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices” (80 percent, including 74 percent of Independents).
  • Registering at comparable levels of being good reasons to support the plan, “raising taxes on the rich and corporations to make sure they pay their fair share” (75 percent, including 69 percent of Independents) and that Build Back Better “would not raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000 annually” (74 percent, including 70 percent of Independents) are at the top of the list.
  • In an open-ended question asking those who said they support the Build Back Better economic plan, the theme that predominantly emerges—both overall and among Independents—is that the plan will raise taxes on the rich and corporations that need to pay their fair share. 

Important Messaging:

A progressive argument that centers these key points—raising taxes on the wealthy, not raising taxes on those making less than $400,000 annually, and lowering health insurance and prescription drug costs—is more effective than framing the plan as “costing the American government $0.” Three in five Americans—including 54 percent of Independents—view this argument to be convincing (61 percent), similar to the share who support the plan overall. However, other arguments about the legislation not costing the government any money or invoking hypocrisy about Trump’s tax cuts are more divisive and narrowly underwater among Independents.


Read the full report: Build Back Better – A Guide for Advocates

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