Topline
Most voters don’t think the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden Tuesday, will actually help address inflation, a new poll from Morning Consult suggests, finding some 57% of voters think the package will have no impact at all or will actually make inflation worse.
President Joe Biden signs into law the Inflation Reduction Act.
Key Facts
Only 24% of some 2,005 voters surveyed by Morning Consult think the Inflation Reduction Act—which the White House has said will help bring down prices by offering tax cuts for clean energy and cutting billions of federal deficit dollars—will improve inflation.
Democrats were more likely than others to believe the bill would improve inflation , with 48% saying the package would help, while only 15% of independent voters and 6% of Republicans said it would improve inflation, according to the poll, which was conducted from August 12 to 14.
Some 62% of GOP voters said the act—which includes $369 billion of investments in climate and energy programs as well as several measures to cut health care costs—will make inflation worse, compared to 33% of independents and 8% of Democrats.
Key Background
The Inflation Reduction Act is a scaled-down version of Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which failed in the Senate last December. Its passage marked a major victory for Biden, who has called the package the final piece of his domestic agenda. The spending for the act will be financed mostly by tax increases, including a 15% minimum tax on corporations that make at least $1 billion a year in income. The White House has said the bill will help lower prices by cutting energy and health care costs for Americans and by helping reduce the federal deficit. The law includes several tax credits for people who transition to greener energy sources, which the Biden administration believes will help cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. It also includes a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs for Medicare patients, a $35 monthly cap on the diabetes drug insulin and allows Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to cut the price of some medications. But some experts say the package will likely not have an immediate impact on inflation. It may not have a significant effect on rising prices in the long term either, according to a report from Penn Wharton Budget Model, a group of University of Pennsylvania economists and data scientists who analyze economic and fiscal impacts of public policies.
Tangent
While the recent polling suggests some voters are doubtful of the new package’s ability to address skyrocketing prices, many Americans are supportive of the health care and climate measures within the new law, recent surveys from Morning Consult suggest. About three-quarters of voters surveyed by the group at the end of July said they supported allowing Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices, while 56% said they agreed with extending health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. About 54% of voters said they supported investing $369 billion in climate and energy programs over the next decade, though a much smaller share of Republicans (28%) compared to Democrats (78%) said they were behind the spending.
Further Reading
Biden Signs Sweeping Climate And Health Care Package, Marking Major Victory (Forbes)
What the Inflation Reduction Act does and doesn’t do about rising prices (NPR)
Inflation Reduction Act won’t curb inflation ‘over the short run,’ says economist (CNBC)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/08/17/most-voters-dont-believe-democrats-inflation-reduction-act-will-actually-alleviate-inflation-poll-suggests/