Some Republicans share these considerations. Sean Wiley, who voted twice for Mr. Trump and describes himself as a conservative libertarian, mention
Some Republicans share these considerations. Sean Wiley, who voted twice for Mr. Trump and describes himself as a conservative libertarian, mentioned the federal government wanted to supply help to individuals who have misplaced their jobs within the pandemic however argued that the present bundle was too massive.
Now that extra persons are being vaccinated and the nation is getting again to work, he mentioned, there’s not as a lot want for an enormous authorities stimulus. Mr. Wiley, 52, who lives in Secane, Pa., and builds transmissions for racing automobiles, mentioned he apprehensive that the Biden invoice would unnecessarily add to the nationwide debt.
“We’ve sort of mortgaged the longer term on this,” he mentioned.
But, polling signifies {that a} notable portion of the Republican base is way extra open to the invoice. Final month, greater than two-thirds of Republicans mentioned they supported rising particular person funds to $2,000 from $600, which Mr. Trump had proposed however Senate Republicans had rejected. Almost seven in 10 Republicans mentioned it was necessary for the present invoice to incorporate $1,400 direct checks, in accordance with the SurveyMonkey ballot.
Many Republican voters who expressed considerations concerning the measurement of the stimulus bundle mentioned they didn’t oppose the direct funds however apprehensive about what they noticed as extraneous provisions — like a proposal to lift the minimal wage to $15 an hour and $350 billion in help for state and native governments.
“Individuals need assistance proper now, and I’m OK with my tax {dollars} doing that — I’d assist feed my neighbors in the event that they wanted it,” mentioned Melissa Karn, 53, a Trump voter from the Phoenix suburbs. “However I’m not on board with sending cash to rebuild and bail out cities that haven’t been run very effectively for years.”
Ms. Karn and different Trump supporters discover little to love amongst their leaders in Congress who’re making the identical arguments, preferring the bombastic, burn-it-down model of the previous president. They praised Republicans carefully aligned with Mr. Trump, like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, and supplied scorn for these he has clashed with, like Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority chief.