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New poll: Majority of Americans say Trump isn’t paying enough attention to infrastructure

Updated May 28, 2018
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, President Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao during the a press conference on the administration’s infrastructure plan.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, President Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao during the a press conference on the administration’s infrastructure plan.

A majority of respondents in a new poll say President Donald Trump is not paying enough attention to the nation’s infrastructure.

“Most Americans say that Donald Trump and the federal government in general are not making the nation’s transportation infrastructure enough of a priority,” says a press release this week from Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The poll also finds that Americans have a negative view of their roads and bridges. Few give the state of their local roads and bridges a positive rating. Yet there’s also evidence that most people surveyed are not really aware of the current condition of their local infrastructure, a press release says.

“A majority of Americans (55 percent) say President Trump is not giving enough attention to the country’s transportation infrastructure,” the release says.

Only 26 percent say he is giving this issue enough attention and another 4 percent say he is giving it too much attention.

“Despite the fact that the White House has declared an ‘Infrastructure Week’ many times over the past year, the American public sees very little concrete evidence that this is a priority,” says Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The White House unveiled a proposal in February that it claims will stimulate more than a trillion dollars in infrastructure investment nationwide, the press release notes.

Less than half of the public think that it is very (10 percent) or even somewhat (34 percent) likely that this plan will become a reality. Another 25 percent say it is not too likely and 25 percent say it is not at all likely to happen, according to the survey.

If the infrastructure plan is not enacted, most Americans (53 percent) would blame both Trump and Congress equally.

More than 6 in 10 Americans (62 percent) say the federal government is not spending enough on transportation infrastructure projects in their local area, including deficient bridges, compared to just 19 percent who say the feds are doing so, the survey found.

President Trump’s proposal includes $200 billion in federal funds to spur at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investments across America, the White House says. It shifts more infrastructure decision-making to the states.

Some key points of his plan:

  • $100 billion will be directed to an incentives program to generate additional investment from states, localities and the private sector.
  • $50 billion will be devoted to rebuilding and modernizing rural infrastructure.
  • $20 billion will go to promoting bold, transformative infrastructure projects.
  • $20 billion will go to expanding infrastructure financing programs.
  • $10 billion will go to a capital revolving fund to help reduce inefficient federal property leasing that would be more cost-effective to purchase.

For more details on the president’s infrastructure plan, see this fact sheet released by the White House on March 29.