Most Everyone Agrees: Infrastructure Investment Can Keep America Great

After a painfully divisive general election season, it turns out there’s something American voters agree on: In overwhelming numbers, voters on both sides of the aisle and across all demographic groups say the federal government should pass “a comprehensive infrastructure bill to modernize roads, bridges and other types infrastructure in the United States”.

Who knew that action to close the infrastructure funding gap could be the glue that holds us together, after so many months of hearing about the things that drive us apart?

But that’s exactly the result of a national tracking poll by Morning Consult, based on interviews with a sample of 1,401 registered voters conducted December 1-2 and reported last week by Politico.

The poll found that 80% of registered voters support a comprehensive infrastructure bill, while 74% agree with investing much more or somewhat more in the nation’s roads. But what’s astonishing—and encouraging—is the consistency and unanimity of the response across the various breakdowns and cross-tabs in the polling report.

Everybody Wants Infrastructure – Just the Stats

In an era when fractional differences in voter support are the stuff of banner headlines, Morning Consult had to dig deep to find any population group where support for an infrastructure program dipped below 70%—and in one of the few instances where it did, it was in a group where 22% of respondents had no opinion.

The 80% of registered voters who saw infrastructure as a top or medium priority included 85% of upper-income, 86% of middle-income, and 77% of lower-income voters.

86% of Trump supporters, 82% of Clinton voters, and 74% of respondents who said they supported another candidate.

83% from the Northeast, and 80% each from the Midwest, South, and West.

82% of rural, 81% of suburban, and 80% of urban respondents.

85% of business people and self-employed entrepreneurs, 79% of government workers, 71% of students—and 89% of retirees.

87% of white collar and 86% of blue collar workers.

74% of registered voters expressed specific support for much more or somewhat more investment in roads, and 70% said the same for bridges.

Infrastructure investment was supported by overwhelming majorities of voters who saw the economy, security, health care, women’s issues, education, energy, or “other” as their most important issues—and there were no other issues in the pollsters’ list.

In three tightly-set pages of data and cross-tabs, Morning Consult did not find a single constituency or voting bloc that opposed infrastructure investment.

Show Us the Money

Things got a bit more complicated when the polling questions turned to how to pay for the infrastructure everyone wants. (No surprise to industry experts.)

While 23% of registered voters said the U.S. government “should spend more on infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and airports, even if it increases the national debt,” 49% only supported infrastructure investment with offsetting cost cuts, new revenue, or taxes—and another 10% said new infrastructure should not be a government expenditure.

Here, too, the response was quite consistent across voting blocs and constituencies—pluralities connecting infrastructure with pay-fors or new revenue ranged from 34 to 60%, and rarely fell below 40%.

All of which points to a great opportunity for the incoming Administration, the new Congress, and the homegrown industry that’s had the widest, most successful experience with a mix of infrastructure funding and financing options.

It’s been said that problems only reach the Oval Office when they’re too complicated to be solved before they get there. After the new cabinet takes office in January, the federal government will be deluged with issues, and there will be an overwhelming need to get the easier ones addressed.

When it comes to highway infrastructure, the tolling industry is ready with proven solutions.

Not every infrastructure question can necessarily be answered with private funds. And not every public-private partnership will necessarily involve tolling. But helping with a large share of those projects is the best way our industry can help the new Administration. It’s a boost that they will almost certainly need. And it’s the work we’re built to do.

For the latest on public opinion on tolling and highway infrastructure, mark your calendar for IBTTA’s 2017 Communications and Administration Workshop, March 12-14, 2017 in Tampa, Florida.