A conservative group run by political operatives aligned with former Vice President Mike Pence has launched a new advertising campaign to defeat President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social spending bill as Democrats race to pass the legislation before year’s end.
The Coalition to Protect American Workers is airing $1.2 million worth of television ads targeting key Democratic centrists, including Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, whose votes are considered uncertain. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has vowed her chamber will not break for Thanksgiving until Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation is sent to the Senate for consideration.
The coalition, whose executive director is Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff in the West Wing, is attempting to kill the bill in the House and, failing that, ensure it never gets out of the Senate. “American families are feeling the pain of inflation at the gas pump and the grocery store, yet congressional Democrats want to spend trillions more of taxpayer dollars in wasteful programs,” he said Thursday.
Democrats with television ads airing or scheduled to air in their districts or states include Golden and Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, as well as Tester and Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, both of whom are up for reelection in 2022. The Coalition to Protect American Workers also is advertising on cable television in Washington, D.C.
“Biden just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand just how bad inflation’s hurting Americans,” says the voice-over as the 30-second television spot that is running in Washington opens. “Gas, groceries, housing — all skyrocketing. Yet Biden’s still pushing his massive spending plan.”
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The ads directed toward the targeted members of the House and Senate also focus on rising inflation, which has lately become a major concern of voters and led to Biden’s diminishing job approval ratings. “The Biden-Hassan liberal spending agenda is forcing families to pay more for groceries, gas, and home heating fuel,” the voice-over in the spot targeting the New Hampshire senator says. “But the liberals in Washington are pushing for even more spending.”
Meanwhile, the coalition shared with the Washington Examiner proprietary polling of voter sentiment in Arizona and West Virginia. The two surveys, which each sampled the opinion of 600 registered voters, were conducted Nov. 7-11. Both had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The data were gathered by the GOP polling firm Public Opinion Strategies.
In publicizing the two polls, the Coalition to Protect American Workers appears to encourage centrist Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to continue holding the line against liberals pushing for more expansive and expensive legislation, even as the White House and liberals in Congress pressure them to compromise with the majority of their party and get behind a consensus version of Build Back Better.
In a statewide survey of West Virginia voters, just 47% of Democrats said they supported “the $2 trillion tax and spend bill that is being proposed by Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress,” with 44% opposed to the legislation. The proposal as described enjoyed minuscule support among independents in this ruby-red state, garnering the backing of 21% of this cohort.
The legislation did slightly better when described this way, receiving the support of 60% of Democrats and 35% of independents: “Would you support or oppose the $2 trillion tax and spend bill that is being proposed by Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress if it would be paid for by increasing taxes only on the wealthiest Americans?”
Manchin’s favorable-unfavorable rating in West Virginia is 57% to 34%, with 40% of Democrats, 64% of independents, and 89% of Republicans saying they back the senator’s “efforts to reduce the size and scope of President’s Biden’s Build Back Better tax and spending plan.”
Biden’s agenda does far better with Democrats in Arizona than it does in West Virginia, but it is in just as much trouble with independents and Republicans. Per the polling, 75% of Sinema’s Democratic constituents back the president’s legislation. However, it receives the support of just 28% of independents in the purple southwestern battleground and only 8% of Republicans.
Biden’s proposal does significantly better with independents when it is described as financed by raising taxes “only on the wealthiest Americans,” garnering the backing of 43% of this crucial voting bloc. It improves slightly with Republicans, receiving 15% of their support. Meanwhile, Sinema’s image is still positive, with 48% favorable and 32% unfavorable, although that puts her under 50%.
Notably, 52% of Arizona Democrats said they supported “Congress delaying the vote on the $2 trillion tax and spending bill until all the facts about the bill are available.” And 68% of independents and 75% of Republicans agreed. However, when it comes to reducing the “size and scope” of the Build Back Better Bill, just 23% of Democrats approve, although Sinema’s effort on that front has the support of 57% of independents and 80% of Republicans.
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The two centrists opposed Biden’s “reconciliation” proposal to spend $3.5 trillion on social programs and are likely to take issue with the pared-back version of the legislation circulating in the House — should it pass. With Democrats controlling a 50-seat Senate majority that rests on Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote, no bill can clear the chamber without Manchin and Sinema if Republicans are unanimously opposed.
Although 19 Republicans in the Senate and 13 Republicans in the House supported Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill, it is likely there will be no GOP votes in either chamber for the president’s social spending bill.
