Originally by Joe Edwards at www.newsweek.com
More than half of former President Donald Trump‘s flagship policy proposals are unpopular with voters, according to a recent poll.
Abolishing the Department of Education, cutting corporate taxes and giving the president more control over the civil service and independent federal agencies were amongst the least popular elements of Trump’s so-called Agenda 47. Only nine out of 28 policies that respondents were asked about had net positive support, the YouGov survey found.
Many of the proposals with the strongest opposition are also part of Project 25, a set of policy recommendations from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank aimed at restructuring the U.S. federal government should Trump win the 2024 presidential election.
Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told Newsweek: “Project 2025 has nothing to do with our campaign. It’s a proposal from Heritage, an outside organization.”
Leavitt pointed Newsweek to a previous statement issued by Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, which said that “no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official” unless Trump or a campaign member says it.
Trump recently distanced himself from the initiative in a Truth Social post: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Newsweek has also contacted the Heritage Foundation for comment.
How Popular are Some of Project 25’s Key Proposals?
The core tenet of Project 2025 is the overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, which includes the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal employees under a proposed “Schedule F” to facilitate easier firing and hiring of personnel aligned with conservative values.
“In order to carry out the President’s desires, political appointees must be given the tools, knowledge, and support to overcome the federal government’s obstructionist Human Resources departments,” the initiative’s policy agenda book says.
In a video on his campaign website, Trump said he would “immediately re-issue” an executive order he first introduced in October 2020 to restore “the president’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats. And I will wield that power very aggressively.”
Fifty-nine percent of respondents in the YouGov survey were opposed to “changing the law to allow presidents to fire civil service workers for any reason.”
A further 55 percent were opposed to giving the president control over currently independent regulatory agencies, another idea proposed by both Trump and Project 25.
Project 25 also states that “ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” In a video shared on his campaign site, Trump said, “We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, D.C. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and yet people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states.”
Calls to eliminate the Department of Education did not prove popular amongst the YouGov survey’s respondents: 58 percent said they “strongly or somewhat oppose” the plan.
Another focal point of Project 2025 is “immediate tax reform.” The policy document calls for income tax on corporations to be reduced to 18 percent. It is currently 21 percent. Project 25 believes “corporate income tax is the most damaging tax in the U.S. tax system.”
Trump has proposed cutting corporation tax to a reported 20 percent, and possibly as low as 15 percent, according to the Tax Foundation.
Nearly 60 percent of people disagree with cutting taxes on corporations, according to YouGov.
Trump has voiced his desire to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, several times over the years and Project 25 supports repealing large swathes of it.
Fifty-six percent of respondents opposed ending the ACA.
The Biden campaign provided Newsweek with a statement from spokesperson Sarafina Chitika which read: “Project 2025 spells it out: If Donald Trump wins a second term, he’ll do everything he can to rip away Americans’ freedoms, undermine our democracy, and amass power for himself while weaponizing the government to get revenge on his opponents.
“The American people are tuning in to just how extreme and unpopular Donald Trump’s second term playbook is – and they’re ready to stop him this November.”
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