White House sends memo to Democrats touting polling on infrastructure deal

The White House on Monday sent polling data to congressional Democrats touting the popularity of the bipartisan infrastructure deal, according to a memo obtained by The Hill. 

Mike Donilon, senior advisor to the president, sent the memo to Capitol Hill on Monday evening about new polls that “reaffirm that voters want bipartisan infrastructure deal and President Biden has united the Democratic party,” he said. 

It cited polling, conducted by Monmouth and Harvard CAPS-Harris, that found 70 to 72 percent of respondents support the infrastructure plan. It also cited a Navigator Research poll from key battleground states that found that 54 percent of respondents support a $3.5 trillion economic plan.

Additionally, the memo said that Democrats have an “extraordinary high level of support” for the way Biden has handled his job, citing a recent AP-NORC poll, and that Biden has 60.6 percent approval, citing a late-July IBD/TIPP poll. 

“What’s clear from these polls – along with other polls released in the past few weeks – is that President Biden continues to propose and deliver plans that the American people, across party lines, agree are good with the country, all while he continues to maintain near universal approval among voters of his own party,” Donilon said.

“President Biden is doing exactly what he said he would do when he ran for the job – acting not as a president of red states or blue states, but a President of the United States,” he added.

The memo is a follow up to a memo from Donilon last week, which said that swing voters want bipartisanship and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal’s investments in economic strength. It cited a July poll, conducted by HarrisX for the bipartisan group No Labels, that found that 72 percent of voters in battleground congressional districts said they want a new infrastructure bill passed with bipartisan support. 

“After our polling memo last week, new polls reaffirm Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal remains popular nationally, as well as with key voting groups, all while President Biden maintains strong – and united – support from voters in his own party, despite pundits’ penchant for generating conflict,” Donilon said.

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a $1.2 trillion, eight-year infrastructure bill on Sunday after 17 Republicans voted last week on a motion to begin debate on the infrastructure bill. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and some of the GOP senators who negotiated it are aiming to pass the bill this week.