Few Voters Think the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Helps Working Families

The White House is pushing to rebrand the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a tax cut for working families as the Republican Party’s signature legislative achievement of President Donald Trump’s second term continues to lack popularity with much of the public.

But according to Morning Consult’s new survey, the GOP has a lot of work to do in convincing voters that the package of tax cuts, increased funding for defense spending and border security, and decreased funding for Medicaid and the development of renewable energy sources will do much to help the average American.

Roughly 1 in 4 voters (26%) said the law does more to help America's working families, compared with 47% who said it does more to hurt them. While Republicans, of course, are far more likely than others to see the legislation as helpful tor the average American, only half of them think this, underlining a big gap in the party’s messaging to its own base.

Young people, women and Black voters are among the least likely to see the law as beneficial for working-class voters, along with those from households that make the least money.  

The GOP’s hope to rebrand their legislation, which The New York Times reported is emerging over two months after Trump signed the bill into law, comes as it remains as unpopular as it was during the legislative process. A majority of voters (52%) oppose the legislation while 35% support it, marking a record low in net support.

Notably, the law appears far more motivating for Democratic voters than Republicans: The former are nearly twice as likely to strongly oppose it as the latter are to strongly support it (66% to 37%).

The bottom line

Republicans would benefit if they can juice the law’s popularity with their own voters, and to highlight individual provisions they advanced. As we showed you earlier this summer, many of its provisions were more popular than the overall bill with a wide range of voters, though few had heard much about them.

However, big bills like this do not often become more popular, at least in the short term, especially given Democrats’ early damage to the package’s brand with their focus on massive Medicaid cuts, a program whose beneficiaries have soured on Trump much faster than the general public. 

Some voters, especially those who make more money, may be happy when they see their tax bills early next year. But Republicans’ best bet as they look to make up their generic ballot polling deficit may not be a rebrand. Instead, the best-case scenario for Republicans may be that persuadable voters who cast their ballots next year aren't thinking much about the bill at all.