NEW REPORT: Project 2025 “Remains Deeply Unpopular” as Voters Agree Blueprint “Accurately Describes” Trump’s Plans
October 18, 2024
In response to new polling showing Americans are still opposed to the extreme, out-of-touch Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“This latest report confirms that Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda remains wildly unpopular with voters with less than three weeks until Election Day – and that a plurality understand this far-right blueprint ‘accurately describes’ Trump’s plans for a second term. The American people continue to stand firmly against this extreme and dangerous MAGA agenda that would ban abortion nationwide, rip away access to health care, and give Trump virtually unchecked power to fulfill his plans to be a dictator on ‘Day One.’”
NEW: Most Americans are still opposed to the extreme, out of touch Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda – and a plurality agree that it “accurately describes” Trump’s plans for a second term.
Navigator Research: “A Majority of Americans Continue to Oppose Project 2025”
“Project 2025 remains deeply unpopular.
“A majority of Americans oppose Project 2025 (52 percent oppose – 13 percent support), including three in four Democrats (net -69; 76 percent oppose – 7 percent support), two in five independents (net -30; 40 percent oppose – 10 percent support), and three in ten Republicans (net -8; 29 percent oppose – 21 percent support). While Republicans who identify with the MAGA movement narrowly support Project 2025 (net +6; 30 percent support – 24 percent support), it is underwater by 25 points among non-MAGA Republicans, of which only one in ten support it (10 percent support – 35 percent support).
“Project 2025 is also widely opposed across racial groups, including at least half of Black Americans (net -43; 56 percent oppose – 13 percent support), white Americans (net -38; 51 percent oppose – 13 percent support), Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (net -37; 13 percent support – 50 percent oppose), and Hispanic Americans (net -35; 52 percent oppose – 17 percent support) saying they oppose it…
“Americans believe Project 2025 accurately describes what Trump stands for by double-digit margins.
“A plurality of Americans believe that Project 2025 accurately describes what Trump stands for (48 percent agree – 20 percent disagree – 32 percent not sure), largely driven by Democrats (73 percent). A similar share says Project 2025 accurately describes what Republicans in Congress stand for (47 percent agree – 19 percent disagree – 34 percent not sure).
“In an open-ended question asking those who have read, seen, or heard at least some about Project 2025, ‘Trump’ and ‘abortion’ have become increasingly cited by respondents over the last two months.”
The more the American people learn about Project 2025, the more they dislike it.
Navigator Research: “Americans oppose all the key elements in Project 2025, with the greatest concerns around health care, worker’s rights, and dismantling federal programs. Over four in five Americans oppose an array of policies proposed in Project 2025 such as ‘allowing employers to stop paying hourly workers overtime’ … Additionally, four in five oppose ‘allowing the government to monitor people’s pregnancies to potentially prosecute them if they miscarry.’ …
“Americans’ overall opposition to Project 2025 increases after reading about its specific policy goals…
“Three in five Americans say Project 2025 would benefit the wealthiest Americans, CEOs, and corporations.”
Miami Herald: “As Americans learn more about Project 2025, they become more opposed, poll finds”
FACT: Project 2025 is “undeniably a Trump-driven operation.”
Axios: “This is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025. One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration.”
Politico: “Many of the authors of the blueprint are former Trump officials, and the Heritage Foundation has spent the past year-plus recruiting people to implement the plans within the administration, Scott said.
“‘So they don’t just have a long, sprawling policy document,’ he said, ‘they also have a growing list of staff who are being tested to see if they are loyal to Trump and if they are willing to administer this in his potential administration.’
“While groups like Heritage have put forward conservative policy proposals in the past, Scott said Project 2025 is distinct in that it’s so comprehensive and far-reaching.
“‘It has so many groups contributing to it. It’s the whole conservative policy movement gathered together,’ he said.”
The Week: “Many of Trump’s indicated plans for a second term fall in line with the Project 2025 outline.”
New York Times: “Roberts told me that he views Heritage’s role today as ‘institutionalizing Trumpism.’ This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump’s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that ‘the Trump administration … simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.’”
FACT: JD Vance has deep ties to Project 2025 and has praised the extreme MAGA blueprint as containing “good ideas.”
Vance: “I’ve reviewed a lot of [Project 2025]. There are some good ideas in there.”
New Republic: “Project 2025 Leader Is Overjoyed by Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick”
Nick Corasaniti, New York Times: “[Heritage president Kevin Roberts] reacted to the news [of Vance’s VP selection] ‘with a broad smile on my face’ and said that ‘privately, we were really rooting for him.’”
Gram Slattery, Reuters: “Vance is very close to Heritage and even wrote the forward for a book from the think tank’s president. Project 2025 is of course organized by Heritage.”
Vox: “Kevin Roberts, the president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the driving force behind Project 2025, told Ward that ‘[Vance] is absolutely going to be one of the leaders — if not the leader — of our movement.’”
Vance: “I want to thank especially Kevin Roberts and all the Heritage Foundation for 50 years of incredible work on conservative policy.”
Vance: “I think that what Trump should do, like if I was giving him one piece of advice, is fire every single civil servant… replace them with our people.”
Politico: “The résumés of Vance’s senior staffers read like a phone book for the New Right ecosystem in Washington: the Claremont Institute, American Compass, the Conservative Partnership Institute, Hillsdale College.”
Politico: Project 2025 author and RNC Platform Committee Policy Director Russ Vought is a “close ally of Vance.”