New Poll of Battleground States: Americans Want Middle Class Tax Cuts, End to Bush-era Tax Giveaways to Rich

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a poll
today showing that a strong majority of voters in midterm battleground
states support proposals to extend tax cuts to the middle class, while
allowing the Bush tax giveaways for those making more than $250,000 per
year to expire.

The poll, which was conducted for SEIU by the Greenberg Quinlan
Rosner research firm, shows that 62 percent of likely voters in seven
key battleground states support a proposal which would: (1) make
permanent the 2001 Bush tax cuts for families that make less than
$250,000 a year; (2) allow the Bush tax cuts for those making more than
$250,000 per year to expire; and (3) provide a series of additional tax
cuts and credits to help middle class families pay for child care, save
for their kids' college, or afford to buy a home.

Although some in Washington are proposing to temporarily extend the
tax cuts for families making up to $1 million a year, the new poll shows
that Democrats and Independents both favor letting the tax cuts expire
at $250,000 per year.

By an 8-point margin (88 to 80 percent), Democrats favor letting the
tax cuts expire at $250,000 per year rather than at $1 million per year.
By a 2-point margin (56 to 54 percent), Independents prefer letting the
tax cuts expire at $250,000 per year rather than at $1 million per
year.

See the numbers HERE.

"We need to restore fairness to the economy," said SEIU President
Mary Kay Henry. "And that means no more Bush-era tax giveaways to the
rich. If we are going to get this country on the right track, we need to
create good jobs and put more money in people's pockets. This poll
shows that Americans of all stripes agree that working families and
small businesses need and deserve a tax cut."

Here are additional highlights from the poll:

A majority of voters think the Bush tax cuts either made no
difference on the economy (26 percent) or hurt the economy (27 percent).
Only 39 percent think that they helped the economy, and these
respondents are primarily Republican voters (66 percent). A plurality -
46 percent - say that the Bush tax cuts made no impact on their personal
financial situation. Again, only 39 percent said that the tax cuts were
personally good for their families (61 percent Republicans).

Majorities of voters support letting tax cuts expire for the wealthy expire,
whether at the $250,000 a year or $1 million a year level. A majority
of voters (55 percent) indicate support for allowing tax cuts to expire
for the wealthiest filers, including 40 percent who think that the tax
cuts should be allowed to expire for the top earners and another 15
percent who say that all tax cuts should be allowed to expire. This
holds true whether the cutoff is $1 million a year or $250,000 a year.

Voters overwhelmingly favor proposals that focus tax cuts on
middle-class families and businesses, while allowing tax cuts for the
wealthiest filers - at both the $250,000 a year and $1 million a year
level - to expire. More than six-in-ten voters favor a proposal
that makes permanent the middle-class tax cuts and provides those same
people with a series of new tax cuts and credits, while allowing tax
cuts on the upper-level filers to expire. The proposal garners broad
support, regardless of whether the threshold for extending the tax cuts
is set at $250,000 or $1 million a year.

Emphasizing that 97 percent of small businesses benefit from
the middle class tax cut proposals trumps the argument that the tax plan
raises taxes on small businesses and will cost jobs. A
plurality of voters (49 percent) believe that the proposal will cut
taxes for nearly all small businesses, compared to 33 percent who side
with the Republican positioning. Democrats favor the "cuts taxes for 97
percent of small businesses" frame by a 67-21 percent margin; among
Independents, the Democratic position produces a 12-point advantage over
the Republican argument, 46-34 percent.

The SEIU poll ran from September 8-13, 2010, testing 400 likely voters in each of seven key states - California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin - for a total of 2,800 interviews.

The full sample of 2,800 voters is subject to a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.