Republicans Admit “We Got Beat” As New Polling Continues To Show Sky-High, Bipartisan Approval For American Rescue Plan

72% Of Voters Support The Historic Bill, Leaving GOP Strategists Asking Themselves: “Did We Botch This?”

A new Morning Consult/POLITICO poll released this morning confirms what Republicans are worried about: they “got beat.” As new polling continues to show sky-high, bipartisan support for the American Rescue Plan that every Senate Democrat voted for and every GOP senator opposed, new reporting from POLITICO reveals that Republicans are asking themselves: “did we botch this?”

GOP strategists are worried that “the party did little to dent Biden’s major victory.” Newt Gingrich admitted that the GOP’s response was “a missed opportunity,” while one Republican aide bluntly confessed “we got beat on this one.” Republicans’ weak attacks never “seemed to resonate with voters, who…appear overwhelmingly supportive of the law.” And as the effects of the American Rescue Plan are already starting to be felt by millions of Americans across the country, the widespread support for the bill has the “potential for improving the electoral landscape for Democrats.”

“It’s no wonder that Republicans are panicking about their opposition to an enormously popular relief package with broad, bipartisan support across the country,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “When Senate Republicans unanimously voted against the American Rescue Plan, they voted against a commonsense agenda to put money in people’s pockets, expand vaccine access, help our schools safely reopen faster and rescue our restaurants and small businesses. As voters across the country are reading about exactly what GOP senators voted against, Republican attacks on this historic relief bill are becoming increasingly impossible to defend.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

POLITICO: Republicans on Biden’s Covid bill: We bungled this one

• As President Joe Biden embarks on an ambitious plan to sell his massive coronavirus relief package to the public, conservatives are starting to ask: Did we botch this?

• They fear the party did little to dent Biden’s major victory — a victory that could embolden the administration in forthcoming legislative fights and even the lead up to the midterm elections.

• “It’s a fairly popular bill that polled well because it’s been sold as a Covid relief bill with direct cash payments to Americans — what’s not to like?” [Steve Bannon] added. “However, that’s not what the bill is. That’s a huge problem because 2022 has already started and you don’t see the fight here.”

• Elsewhere in conservative circles, a feeling of missed opportunity has taken root in the wake of the passage of the Covid-relief bill last week. Republicans were never expected to support the measure and unanimously opposed it when the time came for a vote. But in interviews with top GOP operatives, Trump confidantes, and congressional aides, there was a common refrain that the party could have done more to frame it for the public.

• The RNC issued just two statements on the bill, both after it had already passed. In that void, others were left to try and figure out how to attack a law with a 75-percent approval rating.

• “I think this is a missed opportunity and the GOP has to improve its communications campaign pretty dramatically,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

• None of the attack lines seemed to resonate with voters, who began receiving stimulus checks as early as last weekend and appear overwhelmingly supportive of the law. A CBS-YouGov survey released on Sunday showed 71 percent of adults believe the American Rescue Plan will benefit the middle class more than wealthy Americans. The bill’s passage coincides with an uptick in vaccinations and recognition from Democrats and allied teachers unions that schools need to reopen soon — which together have the potential for improving the electoral landscape for Democrats as they try to keep both chambers of the Congress.

• John Anzalone, who worked as chief pollster to the Biden campaign and remains a close outside adviser, said the Republican response was both late and head-scratching. The GOP didn’t push back on the bill as a deficit buster. Instead they framed it as unrelated to Covid, which Biden’s team felt only alienated voters who directly tied the virus to their economic plights and saw elements of the bill — like childcare tax credits and lowering healthcare costs — as critical to getting past the pandemic.

• “This is just really mind-boggling,” Anzalone said. “At a time that we’re going through three or four crises at once, they have basically just punted. They’ve completely punted.”

• “We got beat on this one,” the [Senate GOP] aide said, in a blunt assessment of their party’s response.

POLITICO: Poll: 72 percent approve of Covid relief law

• More than seven in 10 voters, 72 percent, support the new law, the poll shows — far greater than the paltry 21 percent who oppose it.

• Support is nearly universal among Democrats — 95 percent — and strong among independents at 69 percent. Despite the law’s earning no support from Republicans in Congress, GOP voters are split in the new poll: 44 percent support it, and 48 percent oppose it.

• In follow-up questions, majorities also expressed support for two of the law’s most prominent provisions: the stimulus checks that some Americans have already received, and the extension of unemployment insurance benefits.

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