New Poll Shows Just 25 Percent Think GOP Tax Plan Is a Good Idea

House Republicans have delayed the rollout of the draft of their tax "scam" to hammer out details, and a new poll reveals that the proposal has little love from the American public.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday shows (pdf) that just 25 percent believe the tax plan is a good idea, while 35 percent think it's a bad idea. Thirty-nine percent have no opinion. The poll also found that 39 percent believe the plan won't improve the economy at all.

"Trump and Republicans have a long way to go ... to convince people of the merits of the plan," said Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.

Indeed, as CNBC reports, "The proposal starts with the least favorable public opinion landscape of any major legislative initiative since President George W. Bush's attempt to partially privatize the Social Security system in December 2004."

That's not surprising. As Common Dreams noted this week, "Analysis after analysis has shown the Trump-GOP tax proposals would almost exclusively favor the wealthiest Americans while raising taxes on some middle-class families and exploding the deficit."

In addition, in contrast to Trump's (erroneous) pitch that the plan would primarily benefit the middle class, a new CBS News poll shows that 56 percent of Americans think that the rich will benefit the most from the plan. And while the proposal suggests a slashing of the corporate tax rate, 52 percent think that corporations pay less than their fair share in federal income taxes; 56 percent say large corporations should in fact have their taxes increased. Showing further misalignment between the public and the GOP plan, the poll also shows that 58 percent think wealthy Americans should have their taxes increased.

The House Ways and Means Committee was expected to unveil their draft on Wednesday, but chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said Halloween evening, "In consultation with President Trump and our leadership team, we have decided to release the bill text on Thursday."

The Associated Press reports that

[a]lthough they had settled on some key details--such as a cut in the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and maintaining the top personal income tax rate for the wealthy of 39.6 percent--other elements still had to be resolved, including the income levels for each tax bracket.

"When one party tries to rush through a bill of this significance that was drafted in secret without a single public hearing, you can expect outcomes like this," said the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, of the delay.

The delay, the Washington Post reports, also "raises questions about whether Republicans have resolved all of their differences amid concerns that even a few defections could prevent the bill from passing."

According to Ben Wikler, the Washington director of MoveOn.org, the delay means Republicans "are scared to face" their constituents.

Harnessing the push-back to the plan, the "Rally to Resist the Republican Tax Scam" is taking place on Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill.

A call-to-action for the event, organized by groups including Americans for Tax Fairness, Public Citizen, and Progressive Change Campaign Committee, states, "Join us to help make sure our response to this bill is loud and clear: NOT ONE PENNY in tax cuts for the rich!"

The NBC/Wall Street Journal survey of 900 Americans, which took place Oct. 23-26, also offered more evidence of Trump's unpopular time in office. It showed that just 38 percent approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 58 percent disapprove.