Polling suggests that it probably isn’t. Philip Klein discusses the matter here.
One poll found that, by a big margin, Americans answer the following question affirmatively:
President Biden recently proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to be spent on roads, bridges and trains, internet access, power grid improvements, and clean energy projects. In general, do you support or oppose this plan.
In another poll, by about the same large margin Americans supported a “major investment in the nation’s infrastructure.” In a third poll, by a smaller margin a majority expressed support for the “$2 trillion infrastructure development plan that the Biden administration has proposed.”
However, infrastructure spending isn’t a high priority for Americans. Gallup’s Frank Newport points out:
Pew Research Center in April gave Americans a list of 15 different problems facing the nation and found that “condition of roads, bridges and other infrastructure” ended up third from the bottom of the list in terms of being perceived as “a very big problem.” Additionally, infrastructure basically does not show up at all in our Gallup updates on Americans’ top-of-mind perceptions of the most important problem facing the nation.
(Emphasis added)
Newport also cites polling that shows Americans have a pretty realistic view about what infrastructure spending is, and what it is not. That’s not good news for the incorrigibly overreaching Democrats.
All of this suggests that, although infrastructure spending is supported by the public, the Democrats can’t reasonably expect their infrastructure legislation to have much effect on the next election.
This view is confirmed, I think, by the experience of the Obama administration. It formulated and Congress passed a trillion dollar “stimulus package” purportedly for the purpose of proceeding with “shovel ready” projects.
The stimulus bill might have been vaguely popular. However, the Democrats still were shellacked in the 2010 elections.
This time around, the Democrats probably hope that the economy will continue to improve and that voters will credit the spending spree for much of the improvement.
That possibility can’t be ruled out. However, an improving economy, and even a thriving one, doesn’t normally protect the party in power from losses in mid-term elections.
The economy had improved markedly when the Democrats took a huge beating in 1994. It was on the upswing when they took another one in 2010. And it was thriving when the Republicans were hammered in 2018.
Things might work out differently in 2022 but, as I said, the Democrats shouldn’t count on it.
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