Pointing to nothing in particular, Donald Trump declared this morning, "So many people are seeing the benefits of the Tax Cut Bill. Everyone is talking, really nice to see!"
In reality, of course, everyone isn't talking about the Republican tax plan, and there's nothing especially "nice" about public attitudes on the subject. Perhaps someone should show the president the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The new poll found that 27% of respondents thought the law was a good idea, while 36% thought it was a bad idea. Opinion split largely along party lines, but even among Republicans support was far from unanimous: 56% of Republicans thought the law was a good idea."If this is a signature accomplishment Republicans are hoping to run on in November, this is obviously not a good starting point,'' said Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster who helped conduct the survey with Republican Bill McInturff.
It's not the only evidence to consider. Gallup also released a new report yesterday that pointed in a similar direction: "The poll finds no change in Americans' reaction to the law since the last update in February, with 39% saying they approve of it, and little improved over Gallup's initial post-passage reading in January, when 33% approved. The majority, 52%, disapprove of the law."
So where does that leave the law's GOP proponents? Nowhere good.
Critics of the Republican tax plan made several key predictions during the abbreviated debate over the proposal: (1) the corporate windfall would go toward stock buybacks, not capital investments; (2) the package was filled with sloppy errors that would need to be fixed; (3) the plan would be used as a pretext to go after Social Security and Medicare; (4) the tax breaks would wreak havoc on the nation's finances; and (5) the American mainstream would reject the regressive plan and Republicans couldn't use the tax breaks as some kind of electoral life preserver.
Given the latest evidence, it looks like opponents of the GOP plan are five for five.