A crowd rallies to call for a “Stop the Steal” in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.
The American public is deeply divided on many of the major issues facing the country, but a new national survey finds that supporters of both Trump and Biden, the majority of both Republicans and Democrats, have voiced support for six proposals.
“This study clearly shows that the vast majority of Americans, regardless of their political party, want these policies implemented,” Dr. George Barna said in a statement following the release of the survey, conducted by the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University.
Barna is the director of the Center for Cultural Studies. He said, “There is a clear path to unity and healing on these issues that have common ground.”
Immediately following the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, staff for this survey interviewed 1,000 adults from a demographically balanced sample. The margin of error for this survey is 3 percent.
The survey’s statement said at least two-thirds of Republican and Democratic respondents support the following six issues.
- Increasing domestic manufacturing jobs in the United States.
More than four in five (83 percent) Americans support the idea of expanding the domestic manufacturing base. This idea has an almost equal level of strong bipartisan support: 87% of Trump voters and 84% of Biden supporters support this issue.
- Improving the nation’s infrastructure.
Four in five (81%) adults support the idea of “significant” investment in improving the nation’s infrastructure. This pledge has the same level of support from those who voted for Donald Trump (83%) and Joe Biden (84%).
*Make Social Security and Medicare financially solvent.
Restoring the financial solvency of Social Security and Medicare is another proposition on which both sides agree, with eight in 10 adults supporting the initiative. More than three-quarters of Trump voters (78%) and an even higher percentage of Biden voters (86%) think it would be beneficial to do so.
- Reduce the federal debt.
A growing number of citizens are concerned about the impact of the rapidly growing U.S. government debt on the future economy. There is broad support for the idea of significantly reducing the federal government debt: Three-quarters of adults (77%) favor the idea, split 50-50 between those who support Trump (82%) and those who support Biden (78%).
- Reduce federal income taxes on individuals.
Three-quarters of adults (73%) want the federal government to lower their personal income taxes. Trump voters would be slightly more excited about this possibility (79%), but at the same Time, nearly three-quarters of Biden voters (72%) also express support.
- Increased school choice.
A majority of Americans (73%) want to give Parents more school choice. This desire is equally strong among Trump supporters (75 percent) and Biden supporters (72 percent).
In addition, four other issues, also supported by bipartisan majorities, but not absolute majorities, include
- Reducing racial discrimination through legal means. Supported by 62% of voters who support Donald Trump, compared to 87% of voters who support Joe Biden. Overall, the proposal received an average of 74 percent support.
*53% of Trump voters and 85% of Biden supporters support the development and implementation of stricter environmental standards. The overall national approval rating is 69 percent.
- Strict enforcement of current immigration laws. This issue draws support from 84% of Trump supporters and 54% of Biden voters. Nationally, the proposal was supported by 64 percent of respondents.
- Significantly reduce the number of federal regulations. This is supported by 74% of Trump supporters and 58% of Biden supporters. Overall, 62 percent of respondents expressed enthusiasm for the proposal.
At the other end of that poll’s results, meanwhile, some initiatives did not garner common support from a majority.
The initiative to vacate the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was supported by only 50 percent of Trump voters and 38 percent of Biden supporters.
Similarly, the increase in the number of high court judges advocated by many liberal Democrats was supported by only 47 percent of respondents overall, although Biden voters (61 percent) preferred the proposal.
In a separate statement, the cultural studies center said its findings reflect an emerging trend in U.S. public opinion, in which respondents often take a stand in support of conflicting policies.
“The research shows that people want to see an active government – one that can take action and get things done in all aspects of Life (Education, the economy, government processes, etc.),” the statement said.
“However, government action never happens in a vacuum: changes in law and public policy always come at a cost. The impact of the expectations identified by many respondents is that these government actions will conflict with other expectations they have expressed, such as simultaneously wanting less government regulation, elimination of the federal government debt, a balanced budget for the federal government, and lower personal income tax rates, among others.”
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