Third Way: "Addressing Misconceptions on Democrats' Build Back Better Act"

[brooklynite]

Democrats’ Build Back Better (BBB) Act would be a long-overdue investment in the American people, delivering support for working families, middle-class tax cuts, and overdue action on climate. But as Democrats negotiate over what will be included in the bill, there’s a void in the public debate. If voters have heard anything in this debate, it is the proposed price tag of the bill, which elevates the cost of it over what it would do for people. Because of this void, misconceptions are growing that could threaten the bill’s long-term popularity. Most voters do not know what the bill would do (or even the pieces being discussed), and this lack of awareness leaves them susceptible to Republicans’ lies and attacks that could poison support for the bill before it even passes.

To understand voters’ misconceptions, Third Way and ALG Research recently conducted a 90-minute “Remesh session”—a research tool for gaining qualitative insights at scale—with 50 base Democrats and 50 swing voters. (The findings should be read as broad and directional rather than precisely representative of the electorate.)

These findings show that most base and swing voters—72% in total—support BBB right now. But just 27% say they know “a lot” about the infrastructure and BBB bills. This void between initial support for the bill and voters’ awareness of its content is where misconceptions can take hold and undermine public support.

Three primary misconceptions jumped out in this research:

Voters do not believe they will receive a tax cut from BBB. Just 13% of base and swing voters believe BBB will lower their taxes, even after hearing a description of the bill that includes working- and middle-class tax cuts.

Swing voters worry the bill will be full of giveaways and will keep people from returning to work. When asked what they “dislike” in a fully described BBB, 60% of swing voters reference too many “handouts,” and a similar share are concerned it will keep some from returning to work.

Swing voters also believe the bill will increase the deficit. More than 60% of swing voters erroneously think that the bill will increase the deficit, despite hearing that it will be paid for by taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

https://www.thirdway.org/memo/addressing-misconceptions-on-democrats-build-back-better-act

[taxi]

3. Yea, it's not easy to buy a trillion dollar coin.

Who would pay for it?

[msongs]

2. oh look repubs are beating dems on messaging...again nt