84% Approval For Infrastructure Spending?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Economy, Legislation, Money, Polls
Looks like Obama did a decent job convincing folks that we needed to rebuild our power stations and highways and bridges and schools. Because as pollster Frank Luntz found, the support appears to be overwhelming.
Last month, I conducted a national survey of 800 registered voters on their attitudes toward infrastructure investment. It was commissioned by Building America’s Future, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials — chaired by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — formed to support infrastructure investment.The survey’s findings were unlike any other issue I have polled in more than a decade. Iraq, healthcare, taxes, education — they all predictably divide and polarize Americans into political camps. Not infrastructure.
Consider this: A near unanimous 94% of Americans are concerned about our nation’s infrastructure. And this concern cuts across all regions of the country and across urban, suburban and rural communities.
What’s more…people would be okay for a tax increase to fund it?
Fully 84% of the public wants more money spent by the federal government — and 83% wants more spent by state governments — to improve America’s infrastructure. And here’s the kicker: 81% of Americans are personally prepared to pay 1% more in taxes for the cause. It’s not uncommon for people to say they’d pay more to get more, but when you ask them to respond to a specific amount, support evaporates. (That 74% of normally stingy Republicans are on board for the tax increase is, to me, the most significant finding in the survey.)This isn’t “soft” support for infrastructure either. It stretches from Maine to Montana, from California to Connecticut. Democrats (87%) and Republicans (74%) are prepared to, in Barack Obama’s words, put skin in the game, which tells you just how wide and deep the support is.
Frankly, I’m floored by these numbers. I didn’t expect this much support. Especially for a tax increase.
One last thing…few are expecting anything to happen overnight…
But there’s more: Accountability. The poll found that Americans are far less interested in doing projects quickly than in doing them right. “Don’t screw it up” would be a more popular rallying cry than “get it done.” Washington should not mistake the message of the November election and the desire for change with an “at all cost” mentality. In the poll, 61% chose “accountability” as their first or second priority in any government investment — not the creation of jobs (34%) and not that the investment be truly national in scope (25%)
Looks like the nation might actually be in the mood for a “new era of responsibility”?
Obviously, the usual caveats apply that this is one poll (and it’s from Frank Luntz), but I can’t help but think that if Americans would be fine with a tax increase, passing a stimulus plan that doesn’t tax anybody won’t need a supermajority.
Sure, it would send a powerful post-partisan message and have the dual effect of the Democrats not owning an failed economic plan, but even if the returns aren’t immediate it doesn’t seem to really matter to most. Just so long as their local infrastructure improves, they’ll be happy. And given that all the numbers I’ve seen have suggested that infrastructure spending has the best effect on the economy, maybe Obama should seek 60 votes instead of 70. Especially if certain Republicans’ tax cutting ideology simply won’t budge.
I say that last bit not to slam the GOP, but there are already hundreds of millions of dollars of tax cuts in the stimulus plan, and Republicans are going to have to acknowledge at some point that the Dems are running the show and it’s time to try their economic ideas. Especially since such a catastrophic failure happened on the GOP’s watch.
I’m just saying…
This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 and is filed under Barack, Economy, Legislation, Money, Polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Stuttgart Speech of Feb. 15, 1933
http://www.hitler.org/speeches/
“people” are goats that will happily be lead to the slaughter financially and literally sometimes.
I’m just saying what Mencken correct scribed: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
We haven’t seen good ‘n hard compared to what we have coming. I say that as a friend to those both on my left and right.
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
There’s someone to your right, Harden? I kid, I kid…
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Neither the equivocation or historical context is apt in the least, but what’s most revealing in this is it seems like you’re not even the slightest bit interested in giving this guy a chance. In fact, all it seems you care about is steadfast adherence to your ideology and making people afraid of nearly anything Obama proposes.
And hey, fair enough…but you really need to get some new material. I mean, Hitler?
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
What I am interested in, is why over the past 15-20 years, pork-barrel spending and appropriations were so unpopular even during times of plenty, but now all of a sudden its popular? What didn’t we see back then about government spending that we think will be better now?
The pork barrel projects themselves haven’t changed – its always under the category of “public infrastructure.”
January 24th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I love how the GOP is now so fiscally conservative–where were they the last 8 years…oh yes, spending money like drunk sailors
That is a gross misrepresentation of pork barrel spending I wonder if you even bother doing your homework.
Of the 11,610 pork barrel projects as identified by the Citizens Against Government Waste, let’s take a look at just the biggest pork barreler for 2008–Thad Cochran (ohmigosh, he’s a Republican! Stunner!–but to be fair, there are a number of Dems in the top 10 too)
Anyway, of Cochran’s jaw dropping $892 million pork barrel, almost $64 million was for improving the channel in the Mississippi–OK, you could call that infrastructure I suppose, but then $42 million was for weapon development, $38 million for arts in education, $35 million was for development of a data center, $33 million was for civic education programs, $27 million for more waterway work, another $27 million for the southeast regional research institute, another $25 million for public health services, another $24 million for a national writing project…well, I could go on.
Truth is a lot of ear marking has nothing to do with infrastructure–indeed, pet projects for Senators and Congressman are hardly a coordinated national infrastructure improvement plan. Instead, they are what they are–perqs for the home town.
Listen, if you want to be critical of pork barrel spending and wasted spending, I’m right there with you, but somehow this doesn’t read as someone who is really fiscally responsible–it reads like someone who is going to pooh-pooh anything that comes out of an Obama administration.
Let’s take a quick glance
January 24th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Somehow I don’t seem to recall conservatives championing pork-barrel spending when republicans were doing it. Did you get that “drunken sailors” line from Rush Limbaugh?
Even Sean Hannity said about president Bush, “He spends way too much!” This was from a guy who defended the Harriet Myers nomination! (I heard about this from another blog, I swear; do not accuse me of watching that douchebag’s show!)
Maybe you should count how many “civic education programs,” “public health projects,” and “arts and education” projects are included in this $850-billion package before you cheer-cheer anything that comes out of the Obama administration
January 24th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I’m not cheerleading anything–I’m remain skeptical of the upcoming package until I can see more of it. I am calling out the hypocrisy of the the free spending GOP when they were in charge and criticizing those “fiscal” conservatives who sat quietly while their colleagues spent our great grandchildren’s money.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I think Americans realize that our infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. Our roads and rails are vital to the economy. Power to that and security. We don’t need any more levies failing or bridges falling on anyone’s heads.
On a side: Jimmy I think a little civic education is just what this country needs to get it off the couch and start acting like the nation it once was.
January 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Is there hipocrisy when pundits like Justin Gardner – who has been railing over the past 8 years about overspending and pork and increasing deficits and leaving more debt for our great grandchildren – automatically lend support for nearly 1 trillion dollars in deficit spending after only 3 days of Obama being president, with barely a shred of skepticism before any debate in congress, no less?
January 24th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Jimmy,
Who pushed us to support the financial bailout without accountability? Who went on television telling us our economy would fail if not approved? Who approved the automotive bailout without discussion or debate? Where was the “shred of skepticism” during these actions? Obama came in saying he would get this package through quickly and he’s working toward meeting that pledge along with an unprecedented level of transparency rather than behind closed doors. He’s doing it with the majority of support in the public and in the government and with advisory help from acknowledged experts rather than ideologs. Why did Justin, and many of the voting public, rail against the last 8 years and support this administration now? It’s apparent to those who do support it.
And finally, what did the 5 trillion additional debt from the last 8 years buy us? Better highways, bridges, primary and secondary schools? Did it make our banks safer and protect our life savings? Did it resolve the issues with social security? Medicare? Are we stronger in manufacturing technology? How about science and math? What did we get for this incredibly, unbelievably enormous debt?
January 25th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
[...] encouraging is that Americans seem to get this. At least recent polling shows that they’re fully on board with infrastructure spending and they’re going to be patient with the returns from those outlays. Perhaps they realize [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Even Sean Hannity said about president Bush, “He spends way too much!â€
Yup, but he kept right on blindly supporting him, just like you. See, that’s all you psuedo conservatives have, words. Claiming to be fiscally responsible while electing scum that says “debt doesn’t matter”. You don’t watch him…….riiiiiight. It would sure be refreshing if you tried actually telling the truth just once.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Obama has a lot of pressure on him to perform exactly the way david wants on every single issue, or else he will be a miserable failure. I don’t expect to see any criticism from you at all about anything Obama does as president, else I will question your patriotism.
Apparently, if you elect a politician for office as one of only 2 choices, it seems criticism for any of the thousands of decisions on the multitudes of political issues is unwarranted.
What do you do if Obama makes decisions on most issues in a manner that you would prefer over the other candidate, but not every issue? will you call for his impeachment?
What if the other choice in the election wasn’t a whole lot different on that particular issue? What will you do when you find out politics is complicated?
January 27th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Jimmy, what are you blithering about? Where have I said anything that even remotely resembles the moronic drivel of your last post? BTW, what did Bush do that you agreed with? Keep us safe? Then I guess you’d have to say Clinton was a huge success, right? He certainly kept us a lot safer than Bush by your standards…. oh yeah, and he balanced the budget. Something you claim to care about. Maybe if you’d stop peeing your pants in stark cowardly terror that the big bad A-rabs are gonna get you, you could vote for someone who wasn’t raping America. My god you neocons are cowards!
January 27th, 2009 at 8:43 am
When you said: “Yup, but he kept right on blindly supporting him, just like you”
I’m with ASC on that one, where he said: “What is most fascinating (and disappointing) about Bush is not the trouble he caused so much as his inability to react competently to the trouble caused by others.” Bush didn’t live up to the standards people expect from a republican president. Of course, the Obama camp is spewing out rhetoric to try to lower standards for himself, since the writing on the wall is easy to read. It was Bush’s incompitence that was the biggest problem, along with his propensity to sign any spending bill that was put on his desk by Congress.
However, he did lower taxes, appointed 2 excellent judges to the SCOUTUS, recognized that there is a real war against Islamic fascism, took that fight overseas where it belongs, won the war in Iraq which began in 1991, ended the civil war in Sierra Leone (I bet you didn’t hear about that one), provided the support to Colombia to wipe out FARC for good, opened trade relations with developing nations like India and Brazil, got Lybia to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Got Israel to evacuate 750 thousand Jewish settlers from the West Bank and Gaza, captured Khalid Sheik Mohammad – the mastermind of 9/11, dismantled the A.Q. Khan network… maybe there are a few that I’m forgetting. He was also a great president for those of us involved in the pro-life movement, and we will be eternally greatful for that.
Oh, and i have nothing against “A-rabs” as you call them. I have never used that term in my life, it came from your mind, not mine. I have a problem with the philosophy, ideology and moral code known as Islam. Any reasonable, open minded progressive who is skeptical of religion would share my views – which proves that you, david, are not one of them.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:46 am
@Jimmy – I have been against borrowing money to spend on wars, not to spend on America. There’s a big difference there.
@david – Keep it civil. You can have a discussion without demonizing others. And if you can’t, please leave.