New Survey Shows Biden Economic Policies Polarize Voters

Successful politicians typically “pick fights” on contested issues where most voters are on their side. A new American Compass survey shows that President Joe Biden has done the opposite, doubling down on a set of high-contrast economic issues where Independents are much closer to Republicans, and where strongest support comes from the (much smaller) upper class while strongest opposition comes from the (much larger) working class. This is a formula for political disaster.

The survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov in November 2023, asked 1,000 Americans about their views on ten economic policies pursued by the Biden administration: five “broadly supported” (drug prices, infrastructure, semiconductors, competition, tariffs) and five “polarizing” (climate, immigration, student loans, safety-net expansion, unconditional child tax credit).

Key findings include:

• Overall, the five broadly supported policies have an average net positive rating of 43% while the five polarizing policies have an average net positive rating of 14%. (The national net positive rating is equal to the share responding “Good for America” minus the share responding “Bad for America.”)
  • Investing in infrastructure (+54%) and reducing drug prices (+53%) are most popular, while allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country (-14%) and forgiving student loans (+4%) are least popular.
• On broadly supported policies, Independents are 9 percentage points closer to Republicans than to Democrats, but on polarizing policies they are 30 points closer to Republicans.
• While views by class are mostly similar for broadly supported policies, working-class Americans in particular are more negative on the polarizing policies.
  • The working class is only 50% larger than the upper class among Democrats, but five times larger among Independents and Republicans.

Click here to read the full survey report.