The public is in the mood for big social spending

And they want corporations to pay for it

The public opinion is unequivocal in its endorsement of Joe Biden’s massive economic stimulus and infrastructure bills. If people could vote solely for the Democratic plans as if they were candidates for office, they would be the most popular Democratic politicians in the country. The public mood is heavily in favor of social spending of nearly all stripes.

Last month’s covid-19 and economic relief plan cost the government $1.9 trillion — and was one of the most popular bills of the last twenty years. In my average of polls, for it was nearly 40-50 percentage points higher than the opposition, a margin matched only by the 2007 passage of the $5.85 federal minimum wage, the Brady Bill and the Clean Air Act. A clear majority of Independents and a near majority of Republicans supported the legislation.

Biden’s current push on infrastructure spending — defined loosely so far to include physical transportation infrastructure and funding for some social programs — is less popular, but still s…