"I think this country is moving in a direction that is dangerous," Emmi said.
Two-thirds of Americans (66%) said the country has gotten off on the wrong track; just one in five (20%) said it was headed in the right direction. That's no better than the public's uneasy view during the final weeks of the Trump administration.
"We're not keeping our infrastructure updated – I don't mean currently updated, I mean since 1930 some of these things have been in place," Kathleen Loyd, 70, a retired juvenile-court officer from Piedmont, in southeast Missouri, said in an interview. She is dodging potholes while she drives and had to remodel her kitchen after a water main broke.
But Americans are closely divided on the "Build Back Better" Act that congressional Democrats are now pressing. In the poll, 47% supported the $1.85 trillion bill; 44% opposed it. The sweeping measure includes more than $500 billion in climate-change and clean-energy funding; establishes universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds; extends the child tax credit for one year; expands Medicaid coverage in some states; adds hearing coverage to Medicare and finances affordable housing programs.
The White House and its allies haven't persuaded most Americans that the measure would benefit them, at least not yet. Those surveyed were a bit more likely to say its provisions would hurt their families rather than help them, 30%-26%. Another 31% said it would not have much effect.
Those findings reflect either a failure of communication by the bill's backers or a disconnect with what voters feel they most need.
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