President Joe Biden signed the new $1.2 trillion “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” into law this week. From the American public’s perspective, this is a big deal. I wrote about the public’s desire to have more of their federal money spent on infrastructure as far back as 2016, saying at that point, “The general idea of spending more federal money on infrastructure … meets with strong public approval; 75% of Americans say they agree, while 11% disagree.” By 2019, I wrote about what I called the “singular appeal of a government focus on infrastructure,” and late last year, I was saying, “Infrastructure action should be a no-brainer.”
The rationale behind these conclusions was straightforward. Every bit of research I have reviewed over the past five years shows overwhelming public support for the idea of spending federal tax dollars on infrastructure. The just-passed bill, although hotly debated and much revised, ends up serving as an excellent example of elected representatives, to some extent across the partisan aisle, doing their constituents’ bidding, albeit after many years of inaction. CONTINUED
Frank Newport, Gallup
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