An internal poll conducted by GOP pollster Fabrizio Ward found support for President Trump’s tax proposals in most Senate battleground states ahead of the upcoming budget reconciliation battle in Congress, according to a source in the room when the data was shared Thursday with Senate chiefs of staff.
The source said Fabrizio highlighted the need to continue engaging voters in the Trump coalition.
“The key takeaway is that we need to work together to deliver for voters,” Fabrizio said, according to the source in the room.
The pollster said Republicans have the option of telling voters what Republicans did or telling them Democrats blocked it.
“One of those is a lot easier to win with than the other,” he said, according to the source.
Georgia saw the broadest support for the tax proposals, including 85 percent support for the unpaid caregiver tax credit and 73 percent support for no federal taxes on Social Security. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they favored no taxes on tips, while 66 percent said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Sixty-two percent said they favored no federal taxes on overtime, and 61 percent said they favored a lower corporate manufacturing tax rate. Fifty-nine percent said they supported a continuation of Trump’s 2017 cuts.
The president’s tax proposals were also broadly popular in North Carolina, where 85 percent of survey respondents said they favored unpaid caregiver tax credit and 67 percent showed support for no federal taxes on Social Security. Sixty-seven percent said they favored no taxes on tips, while 63 percent said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Fifty-nine percent said they favored no federal taxes on overtime, and 56 percent said they favored a lower corporate manufacturing tax rate. A continuation of Trump’s tax cuts came in at 51 percent support.
The proposals were notably popular in blue-leaning Minnesota. Eighty-seven percent of respondents were in favor of the unpaid caregiver tax credit and 76 percent supported no federal taxes on Social Security. Sixty-three percent said they favored no taxes on tips, while 63 percent also said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Sixty-two percent said they favored no federal taxes on overtime, and 58 percent said they favored a lower corporate manufacturing tax rate. Fifty-three percent said they supported a continuation of Trump’s tax cuts.
Battleground Michigan also saw popular support for the tax proposals, with 86 percent of respondents voicing support for the unpaid caregiver tax credit and 73 percent voicing support for no federal taxes on Social Security. Sixty-six percent said they favored no taxes on tips, while 70 percent said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Sixty-three percent said they favored no federal taxes on overtime, and 52 percent said they favored a lower corporate manufacturing tax rate. Fifty-two percent said they supported a continuation of Trump’s 2017 cuts.
The results were more mixed in New England’s battleground Senate states. In New Hampshire, 88 percent of respondents said they favored the unpaid caregiver tax credit and 67 percent supported no federal taxes on Social Security. Fifty-seven percent said they favored no taxes on tips, while 63 percent said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Support for no federal tax on overtime was less popular at 48 percent support, while 53 percent said they favored a lower corporate manufacturing tax rate. Support was also lower for a continuation of Trump’s tax cuts, coming in at 44 percent support.
In Maine, 85 percent of respondents said they favored the unpaid caregiver tax credit and 71 percent indicated support for no federal taxes on Social Security. Fifty-eight percent said they favored no taxes on tips, while 57 percent said they favored a car loan interest tax dedication. Fifty-seven percent said they favored no federal taxes on overtime. However, support for a lower corporate tax manufacturing rate and a continuation of Trump’s cuts were lower, at 47 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
The findings come hours after House Republicans passed a budget blueprint that will be used to enact key parts of Trump’s agenda, including an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Now Republicans in both chambers must put together a package that matches up with the levels laid out in the budget resolution and make decisions on a number of hot-button issues including spending cuts, how long the tax cuts will be extended for and the cap on the state and local tax deduction.
The poll was conducted April 2-6 among 300 registered voters from each battleground state, a total of 1,800 registered voters. The margin of error for the 300 voters was 5.66 percentage points. Among the total 1,800 voters, the margin of error was 2.31 percentage points.