Last year, Democrats passed a law that dramatically slashed child poverty and child hunger—and, as a nice side effect, gave Democrats a boost in polls among the tens of millions of people who benefited from it. Sen. Joe Manchin killed that policy, with predictable effects in the polls.
The policy, of course, is the expanded child tax credit, which for six months provided a lifeline to 36 million families with kids: checks of $250 a month for kids aged six to 17, and $300 for younger kids, amounting to an average of $444 per month. Families used those payments for things like food and utility payments and clothes, along with the occasional extra for their kids. But Maserati Joe Manchin thought parents would use the money for drugs, and he objected as strongly to extending that lifeline as he did to any climate legislation that might cut off his half a million dollars a year from extra-dirty coal. Three million kids were lifted out of poverty in the space of a month and that made Joe Manchin mad. The checks ended in 2021.
RELATED STORY: Child tax credit checks didn't just pay for food. They brought millions of families peace of mind
A new Morning Consult poll shows the fallout. In December, right as the last round of child tax credit checks arrived, Democrats had a 12-point lead—49% to 37%—among voters who were getting the benefit. Now, months after the expanded child tax credit lapsed, people who had received the checks are slightly more likely to say they will vote for Republicans than Democrats—46% to 43%. This pattern sets child tax credit recipients sharply apart from all voters. In December, Democrats and Republicans were tied at 41% in the same Morning Consult poll, and now they are tied at 43%. At least according to this poll, child tax credit recipients have dramatically changed their voting plans since the credit lapsed.
Whatever you think of how much sense it makes for people to move dramatically in the direction of the party that always opposed the child tax credit—and it is true that Manchin would not have the sway he has if every single Republican weren’t already lined up against any Democratic policy—this poll shows the damage the policy’s lapse has done to Democrats’ political standing.
The real damage, of course, is to the millions of kids who for six months had more and better food, more stability, maybe some new clothes for school, maybe got to go on a field trip they otherwise would have had to skip. It’s to the parents who were able to pay for child care while they went to school or had peace of mind during a medical emergency. But the damage to those families will be ongoing if Republicans get more power to do more of the economic damage they’ve done to working families for decades. To keep the minimum wage stalled where it was in 2009. To vote against capping insulin prices. To sever every last remaining fragile lifeline that struggling families in this country have had.
Joe Manchin could have sent Democrats into the 2022 elections with 36 million households getting money for their kids every month. He didn’t, and we’ll all pay for it.
RELATED STORIES:
Fallout from Manchin's Fox News announcement spreads, but get a load of his private reasoning
The top use of those child tax credit checks Manchin worried would be used for drugs? Food