4 in 10 say Biden spending plans should be passed without changes: poll

More than 40 percent of Americans say they would like to see President Biden’s two infrastructure spending proposals passed in their current form, even if they do not receive bipartisan support, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, found that 42 percent of respondents said Biden’s infrastructure frameworks — the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan — should be passed as proposed, even if they don’t garner backing from both sides of the aisle.

However, 27 percent of respondents said the plans should be cut significantly in order to get bipartisan support, while 23 percent said the packages should not be passed at all, even if they receive bipartisan support.

The polling results broke down along party lines, with 71 percent of Democratic respondents and just 14 percent of Republican ones saying they support passage of the proposals as written. Thirty-five percent of independents agreed.

Among GOP respondents, 39 percent said the packages should not be passed at all, a view shared by 31 percent of independents and just 2 percent of Democrats.

Public support remains high for Biden’s two infrastructure plans, according to the poll. Seventy percent of respondents said they supported the American Jobs Plan and 63 percent thought highly of the American Families Plan. Meanwhile, 62 percent gave high marks to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March.

Sentiment for the three measures, Monmouth noted, is “nearly identical” to previous polls this year.

But Congress is not planning to take up Biden’s two infrastructure proposals. Instead, the Senate on Wednesday evening voted to advance a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, culminating weeks of talks between the White House and negotiators on Capitol Hill.

The vote was a big win for Biden, who campaigned on bipartisanship and has made infrastructure a key legislative priority.

Biden and congressional Democrats are also looking to pass a $3.5 trillion package focused on “human infrastructure,” including child care, education and other provisions similar to those laid out in the American Families Plan.

The Monmouth poll surveyed 804 adults from July 21-26. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.