Majorities back Biden spending plan, infrastructure bill: poll

A majority of Americans back both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ much larger budget reconciliation spending plan, according to a new poll.

The USA Today-Suffolk University survey indicated that about 63 percent of Americans support the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate earlier this month, USA Today reported on Wednesday. Almost all Democrats but only 36 percent of Republicans polled reportedly support the plan.

The $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which is geared toward Democratic priorities and has been advertised as a “human infrastructure” bill, received less support but still a majority at 52 percent, including 90 percent of Democrats, nearly half of independents and 20 percent of Republicans.

Some Americans polled found the costs of both bills to be expensive, especially in regard to the reconciliation package, USA Today reported.

The bipartisan bill has been touted as a major win for President Biden, who was able to corral 19 Republican senators in addition to all 50 Democrats in the chamber to sign on to the legislation. The bill provides approximately $550 billion in new funding, including new investments for road, bridge, broadband and rail projects.

House Democratic leadership struck a deal on Tuesday with a cohort of moderates to begin immediately working on the larger infrastructure package while also promising to take up the Senate-passed bipartisan bill no later than Sept. 27.

The USA Today-Suffolk University poll was conducted among 1,000 registered voters from Thursday to Tuesday via landlines and cellphones. Its margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.