Cnn
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Most Americans don’t expect Washington to accomplish much in the next two years, according to a new poll. At the same time, another new poll finds broad public support in support of some congressional actions, particularly to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
A majority of 65% of U.S. adults say they believe President Joe Biden will fail to pass his law programs in the next two years, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday, with 61% saying they expect Republican leaders in Congress be equally unsuccessful. Republicans won control of the US House in the recent midterm elections, while Democrats retained their narrow majority in the US Senate. Americans had similarly low expectations after the 2018 midterm elections, which also led to a divided government: 63% expected President Donald Trump to fail to see his proposals implemented, the same poll found four years ago, with 61% saying the same about Democratic congressional leaders.
Just 8 percent of Americans in the latest Pew poll say they expect Republican-Democrat relations to improve in the coming year, similar to polls taken after the previous two midterm elections.
About half (48%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expect Biden to succeed in the next two years, Pew found, with 44% of Republicans and Republicans saying they expect GOP leaders in Congress see their law approved plans.
And while most partisans remain optimistic about the future of their parties overall, a significant minority in each party hold a weaker view. A third of Republicans and Slim Republicans say they are pessimistic about the future of the GOP, higher than the 2020 election when 25% thought so, and even higher than the shares expressing pessimism after the 2016 election and 2016. 2018. Across the aisle, 28% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they are pessimistic about their party’s future: up from 2018 and 2020, but lower than the 38% who said the same after Trump’s victory in 2016.
Americans have reason to suspect Washington could face a lockdown in the coming months. In addition to divided government, both Democrat control of the Senate and a Republican majority in the House rest on narrow margins, and the parties are already clashing over spending. House Republicans have also pledged to launch multiple investigations into the Biden administration.
In contrast, there is broad public support for congressional action, according to a Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday that measured public support for a number of policy proposals “drawn from recent Republican congressional policy statements and democratic”. A near-universal 92% of U.S. adults — including large majorities in both parties — say they would welcome congressional action to “limit the cost of prescription drugs,” with 84% saying they would like to see Congress” pass a new law on the right to vote to protect the right to vote of every citizen”.
Two-thirds or more also support Congressional proposals to increase federal aid to states and school districts to raise teacher salaries (78% are in favor), provide a tuition tax credit at two-year colleges, and technical schools (77%), increase tax credits for low-income earners (75%), raise taxes on incomes over $500,000 (74%), increase US oil and gas production ( 74%), increase funding for renewable energy production such as wind and solar (74%), create federal subsidies for child care expenses (73%), enact laws that facilitate unionization of workers (70 %), scale up efforts to stop illegal immigration along the southern border (69%) and fund the hiring of 200,000 more police officers nationwide (67%).
A smaller majority expresses support for proposals to conduct a congressional investigation of the FBI (59%) or to provide national funding for vouchers that allow K-12 students to attend private or religious schools (55%), both ideas supported by some House Republicans. About half of Americans (51%) say they would welcome Congress banning transgender athletes from competitive sports, with 48% against.
Other proposals advanced by some Republicans have less public support. Less than half of Americans say they favor proposals to drastically reduce US military aid to Ukraine (45%), enact a national law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy (41%), impeach Biden (34 %), block confirmation of any Biden-appointed judges (34%) or require Congress to reauthorize Social Security and Medicare every five years, rather than let the programs continue automatically (32%).
Two-thirds (67%) of Republicans support the impeachment of Biden, while 93% of Democrats are against. The call for a new congressional authorization for Social Security and health care is unpopular across party lines, with 60% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats voicing opposition.
The Marquette survey polled 1,004 U.S. adults from November 15 to 22, using a nationally representative online panel. The full sample results have a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points. The Pew Research Center survey polled 11,377 U.S. adults Nov. 16-27, using a nationally representative online panel. The full sample results have a margin of error of +/- 1.5 percentage points.