Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com
Republicans have for months deluded themselves that giant tax cuts for corporations and billionaires are the answer to all their problems.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said it is the only thing that can save their House majority. Many other GOP lawmakers have said that without the tax scam passed by next year, their donors will cut them off.
Asked about the widespread unpopularity of the bill, Republican Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) responded, “Who cares?”
It turns out voters care.
And as GOP leadership seeks to ram through this bill with no public debate and without even seating the new senator from Alabama first, Public Policy Polling finds bad news for Republicans.
American voters not only hate the tax scheme, they want to fire anyone who votes for it.
One thing that’s not helping the GOP is the tax bill — only 29% of voters support it to 49% who are opposed. And by a 23 point margin voters say they’re less likely to vote for a member of Congress next year who supports it- 49% say support for the tax bill makes them less likely to vote for someone, to only 26% who consider it a positive.
Worse still, the more people know about the bill, the more opposed they are. And only 26 percent think it will help the middle class, while 61 percent believe it will benefit “the wealthy and large corporations.”
And as if all that was not enough, GOP leaders’ approval ratings are at spectacular lows.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has just 23 percent approval. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has fallen to a truly incredible low of 13 percent.
In any rational climate, these numbers would be grounds for the GOP to immediately stop the tax scam and do damage control. But even in the wake of losing in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Alabama, Republicans do not seem to understand that what they do in office has political consequences.
If Republicans cannot listen to polls, the American people will make them listen to ballots.
