Don't call it the BIF: It's the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
By Lew Blank
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The $550 billion investment is crucial for our roads, bridges, transit systems, broadband, and climate — and Biden can claim it as a major accomplishment of his administration as Democrats look to appeal to voters in the 2022 midterms.
Currently, the White House website refers to the legislation by its informal name — “the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal” — over the formal title of the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” In a new survey, we tested which of these titles is most effective at boosting voter support for the bill.
We find that voters are more supportive of the bill when it’s referred to as the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (+49-point net support) than when it’s called the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill” (+45-point net support). This preference for an infrastructure and jobs framing extends across all party lines, but is most telling with Republican voters: while Independent support is roughly equal with both framings, calling the bill the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” boosts Republican voter support by a +14-point margin (and Democratic voter support by a +5-point margin).
Moving forward, the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats should highlight the infrastructure and jobs benefits of the bill more so than the bipartisan nature of its passage. Doing so could help Democrats appeal to voters in the 2022 midterms by emphasizing the infrastructure and jobs benefits they’ve delivered to their communities.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a senior writer at Data for Progress.