After narrowly pushing President Donald Trump’s signature second-term legislation across the finish line earlier this month, Republicans are now faced with the challenge of selling the new law.
Vice President JD Vance began that process July 16 with a trip to a blue-collar enclave in swing state Pennsylvania, where he touted the measure as a win for working families, even as some in his party opposed it because of big cuts to health care for lower-income individuals.
“If you’re building here, if you’re making here, if you’re working in the United States of America, we just gave you a big, fat tax break,” Vance said during a speech at a machine shop in West Pittston.
Vance highlighted a new tax break for overtime pay and a program establishing $1,000 investment accounts for newborns, among other aspects of the new law.
Polling shows Vance and his GOP colleagues have work to do, though, in trying to convince many Americans that Trump’s new law is good policy.
The law extends tax breaks on individuals and corporations that Trump passed in 2017, while adding new tax cuts. It also boosts spending on immigration enforcement and the military and makes deep cuts to the Medicaid health care program for the poor.
The Medicaid cuts generated opposition from some Republicans, and three voted against the bill in the Senate, requiring Vance to break a 50-50 tie. The bill then passed the House 218-214 with two Republicans opposed.
Multiple polls leading up to the vote showed the legislation was unpopular. A SSRS survey conducted for CNN after Trump signed the measure on July 4 found 61% of adults opposed the new law. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll conducted from July 6 through 8 found voters evenly split on the legislation, with 44% in favor and 44% opposed, but opposition increased to 48% among those who had heard of the measure.
A majority of respondents to the CNN/SSRS survey said the tax measures in the law were a reason to support it. Meanwhile, a plurality of those surveyed said the law’s changes to social safety net provisions, including Medicaid, were a reason to oppose it.
Republican lawmakers largely shrugged off concerns about the legislation as it advanced, saying it would prove out over time. Democrats have vowed to make the new law a major campaign issue, saying it disproportionately benefits the rich and hurts lower income people.
The messaging battle over the law will play out ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats believe backlash to the law could help them pick up seats.
“Republicans are celebrating after they gutted healthcare in their deeply unpopular bill,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on social media the day after Trump signed the measure. “The American people will remember the cruelty of it all next November.”
Vance’s first trip to sell the legislation was to the northeastern Pennsylvania district held by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who is a prime target for Democrats after he flipped a blue seat in 2024.
Both Vance and Trump spoke on July 16 about doing more to pitch the new law.
“We’ll start talking about it, but, once we do, I think we’re going to have the greatest midterm that you’ve ever seen,” Trump said during a White House event.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vance begins effort to sell Trump’s signature law ahead of midterms
