Majority approve of Biden infrastructure plan — CBS News poll
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President Biden’s proposed infrastructure plan finds majority support among the U.S. public, with several specific areas of investment viewed as worthwhile across party lines. Americans are also largely on board with increasing taxes on corporations and getting the wealthy to pay for it.
Nationwide, 58% approve of the administration’s infrastructure proposal. This includes 90% of Democrats and a 57%-majority of independents, but only 19% of Republicans. People of color approve of the plan in large numbers, while White Americans are split fairly evenly, divided by partisanship and ideology.
Americans broadly approve of Congress passing bills to fund a variety of types of infrastructure spending. At least 3 in 4 approve of spending additional federal money on five areas of investment, when asked generally without Biden’s name or either party attached. Most popular is building or repairing American roads and bridges (87%). Close behind that are replacing or repairing water pipes (85%) and providing more home care for the elderly (83%), followed by installing broadband internet in rural areas (78%) and building public schools (73%). Each of these items finds majority approval among Democrats, independents and Republicans alike.
While less popular overall, building more rail lines and setting up electric car charging stations are also met with majority support — by closer to six in 10 Americans. These items, especially support for charging stations, tend to divide people along familiar partisan lines.
To pay for infrastructure, most Americans would favor raising taxes on both large corporations and people making over $400,000 annually — seven in ten each. Both of these measures find support among approximately half of Republicans, as well as large majorities of Democrats and independents. By contrast, only four in 10 Americans would support raising taxes specifically on people who use roads and bridges more.
Back to Biden’s infrastructure plan — its 58% approval level is the same as Biden’s overall job handling number. These two views are highly correlated: those who disapprove of Biden also tend to oppose his infrastructure proposal, even after controlling for respondents’ partisanship.
Support for the plan is probably also related to more general views about government spending to stimulate the economy. Those who say the recent economic relief package was helpful to the economy are more likely than others to approve of the infrastructure plan (again controlling for party).
This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,527 U.S. residents interviewed between April 21-24, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as the 2020 presidential vote and registration status. The margin of error is ±2.3 points.
