New National Poll: We Want Infrastructure, and We Want it American-made
What do Americans agree on?
Not much, man! They don’t agree on what’s the best place to get a sandwich or where to live (to settle this debate: the best place to get a sandwich is actually here, everybody). But they doagree that it’s a good idea to avoid talking politics over Thanksgiving dinner.
They also agree on this: A new poll shows that basically everybody, regardless of political affiliation, thinks the federal government should put a boatload of money into infrastructure projects and they should attach Buy America procurement policies to those dollars. Buy America rules get the support of 80 percent of us, the poll found, while only 15 percent of respondents oppose them.
It’s true. While President Trump – the same guy from this commercial – and congressional Democrats wrestle over the release of his tax returns the rest of us, according to the bipartisan poll conducted by Mark Mellman and Bill McInturff, would rather they prioritize infrastructure spending. According to the poll, we want it more than a lot of other policy proposals.
It’s pretty remarkable, and it isn’t anything new; every year polling returns similar results. Here's 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. And this consistent popularity isn’t lost on politicians. The president, for example, is down in Texas today to show off a couple of executive orders that are meant to fast-track energy infrastructure development.
O.K., Mr. President, that’s some good politicking … But voters want that infrastructure to be American-made, by American workers, so that the economic benefits from federal spending stay in American communities. And the last couple of executive orders the president has already rolled around on these very topics – building out energy infrastructure and making more federal spending American-made – have been all bark and no bite. They haven’t gone anywhere!
Instead of executive orders, how about working across the aisle to get some infrastructure spending into legislation, and including some Buy America rules with it? People like this stuff a lot.
You can find the poll’s results here.
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Reposted from AAM
