For the first time since President Trump signed it into law late last year, the Republican tax-reform plan has more supporters than opponents, according to the New York Times.
The law’s increasing popularity, which is likely tied to the fact that workers are beginning to see the withholding savings materialize in their paychecks, is also buoying Republicans’ chances during the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, which were previously expected to be a rout for the party, which controls both houses of Congress – but holds only a one-vote majority in the Senate. It also follows a multimillion-dollar effort to convince consumers of the law’s benefits.
And, in another sentence we bet you never thought you’d read in the New York Times, the paper admits that the law’s growing popularity is eroding the Democrats’ lead in election polling for 2018. Dozens of Republican lawmakers opted to announce their retirement last year instead of face a difficult reelection campaign, but at least a few of them – including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker – are reportedly reconsidering that decision.
While most of the law’s newfound supporting is coming from Republicans, the tax bill is winning over more Democrats than many of Trump’s other, more controversial, policies. Support for the law remains low among Democrats, but it has doubled in the past month. Democrats’ approval of the tax bill is twice as high as their approval of Trump.
Overall, 51% of Americans approve of the law, while 46% disapprove. By comparison, approval was 37% in December.
Democratic support, meanwhile, has grown from 8% in December to 19% when the poll was taken.
Even Democratic strategists are beginning to worry about the implications of this troubling trend…
“It’s less of a sure bet than it was in December,” he said. “This isn’t a problem yet for Democrats, but the movement isn’t a positive one.” According to the Times, Dems have done little to counteract the Republican messaging on tax reform…
Unsurprisingly, the Times blames the bump in polling on – what else? – Americans overestimating the benefits they will receive from the tax law.
Just under one in five respondents expect to see either a raise or a bonus thanks to the law’s business tax cuts. Early returns from public companies indicate that’s an overshot. Just Capital, a nonprofit research organization analyzed the 90 largest public companies that have announced how they will spend the combined $45 billion in savings they stand to receive from the tax bill this year.
It found that those companies planned to pass 6% of those savings directly on to workers, with more than half of that spending in one-time bonuses.
“That doesn’t really track to how the public thinks the companies should be spending the money,” said Martin Whittaker, Just Capital’s chief executive.
Only one in three respondents expects to see a tax cut from the law.
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Close to half of Americans now expect some direct benefit from the law, either a tax cut or a salary increase or a bonus. Support for the law is far stronger among that group, with more than three-quarters of Americans approving of the law..
Sarah Huckabee Sanders lauded the polling results in a tweet.
Other than Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic allies, who could be against lower taxes, higher wages, and a booming economy?
https://t.co/ZGmZxjwGkj— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) February 20, 2018
And she’s not the only one: Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota cited Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s vote against the law as one of his reasons for running against her when he announced his candidacy.
However, unsurprisingly, The Daily Caller reports that, after weeks of dismissing the Republican tax plan as one that only benefits the wealthy — and giving time to pundits who predicted far more apocalyptic consequences, MSNBC and CNN have given zero coverage to a survey showing a majority of Americans approving of the bill.
According to tv clipping service Grabien, which logs transcripts from all network shows over the last year, not a single individual on CNN or MSNBC mentioned the public’s dramatic turnaround in support for the tax bill that saves average American families thousands of dollars annually after The Daily Caller News Foundation conducted a search for “New York Times” and “Tax Reform.”
A search on both CNN and MSNBC’s website for any story showing the tax bill’s popularity also curiously revealed no coverage either.
Which further indicates the left-leaning media’s ignorance of real America; as according to the latest University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment, released last week, government policies were cited in January and early February by the largest percentage of American households in a half century as a reason for optimism. Some 35% of respondents said as much, an indication that the Trump tax plan is resonating.
Optimism about government policy direction’s implications for business conditions climbed during Trump’s first year, dwarfing levels seen during the prior administration…
All of which is odd as Axios reports Trump is officially the Worst.President.Ever…
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/2C8wYK9 Tyler Durden