Voters who received child tax credit in 2021 now favor GOP. Thanks, Joe Manchin!

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This is infuriating, and it shows why Republicans so often act in bad faith—because acting in bad faith works. For them, at least.

While it would be nice if voters acted in their best interests by, say, supporting candidates who might measurably improve their lives, they actually appear to respond a lot more readily to fear. Which is somewhat ironic, since my biggest fear is that Donald Trump will be released on our country again like a sack of diarrhetic feral cats on the International Space Station hot bar. And this kind of shit ain’t helpin’, let me tell ya.

Turns out voters really liked President Biden’s expanded child tax credit, which was part of his economy-boosting American Rescue Plan. But those warm, fuzzy feelings appear to have evaporated since Republicans colluded with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to kneecap Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which would have taken a permanent bite out of child poverty. 

Voters who received expanded child tax credits payments in 2021 ended the year more likely than not to support Democratic candidates for Congress in this year’s midterm elections. But months after that benefit expired, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey shows Republicans have made up that ground. […]

• Among parents or guardians with at least one child under 18 in the household who received the expanded child tax credit payments, 46% said they are most likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate this year while 43% said they’re inclined to back the Democratic candidate.
• The narrow GOP advantage among this group stands in contrast with Democrats’ lead of 12 percentage points in late December, before the benefit expired. It also continues a trend first captured in a survey conducted in February.

Thanks, Joe Manchin! You really did your party a solid. 

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Of course, if you liked the child tax credit and want it back, it would only make sense to elect more Democrats so that two selfish, corporate-aligned quislings would no longer be able to scuttle President Biden’s best-laid plans. The alternative is electing candidates from a party that has vowed never to help parents pay for anything, ever.

But, to be brutally honest, most people don’t think things through that much. All they saw was a vital benefit being taken away and Democrats, who technically control two branches of government, failing to deliver on their most aspirational promises.

So by this time next year, we may very well be stuck with a Republican-controlled Congress, which will gut families’ hopes and dreams for another two years at least.

Oddly, among all voters, Democrats are now tied with Republicans on the generic ballot—which suggests pulling the rug out from under voters hurts you more than never lifting a finger for them in the first place. No wonder Republicans are so giddy about their midterm prospects.

Of course, our message on this should be simple: If you want some breathing room for yourself and other families, you’d be mad to vote for a Republican. Democrats are promising to help you, and Republicans are promising not to. But so much gets lost and distorted in the fog of a congressional campaign. Who/what will be the light that breaks through? 

We need better messaging, people. What say you?

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