AMERICANS COOL TO TAX BILL – AT 2:29 P.M. ET:   This is bad, and it must be reversed by a major national Republican campaign.  Polling shows that most Americans are currently opposed to the Republican tax bill emerging from the House.

Bad poll numbers will give power to the opposition.  They may persuade some Republican fence sitters, in both House and Senate, to oppose their party's bill.  It's not uncommon for a money bill to arouse early opposition because so many inaccurate stories about what's in the bill are out there.  Nevertheless, turning public opinion around must be a major GOP priority.  From Daily Mail: 

Most Americans have given a thumbs down to President Donald Trump's tax plan saying it would mostly benefit the wealthy. 

According to a new ABC News/Washington poll, 60 percent say the plan favors the rich – including six in 10 of the wealthy themselves.

The sampling of 1,005 adults showed that Americans oppose the tax plan by a 17-point margin.

Overall, 55 percent of American adults don't support the plan and 33 percent do support it. The remaining 17 percent are undecided.

One of the overarching criticisms of the new plan is that it would benefit the rich, with 60 percent of those polled agreeing. Just 13 percent think it favors the middle class, two percent say it favors the poor, and 17 percent say all groups are treated equally. 

Even among those with incomes of $100,000 or more, 61 percent think the plan chiefly will benefit the wealthy.

Support for the Trump plan peaks at 75 percent among Republicans and those who approve of his job performance overall in the poll, produced for ABC by Langer Reseacher Associates. 

COMMENT:  The bill will go through revisions, of course, and that in itself may increase its popularity.   But the president himself must lead the charge to explain the bill, even if it takes a national tour, reminiscent of Harry Truman's 1948 whistlestop campaign, to do it successfully.  This is the top legislative priority.  If the GOP cannot get tax relief passed and signed, it has nothing to offer the American people and should be defeated in next year's midterms.

November 4, 2017