What They’re Saying: Senate Republicans’ Agenda “Polls Incredibly Badly,” “Even Republicans Don’t Like It” & “Would Hurt Voter Support For GOP”

News coverage is highlighting the DSCC’s new polling memo that shows that Senate Republicans’ agenda to raise taxes, end Social Security and Medicare, and overturn the Affordable Care Act “polls incredibly badly” and “would hurt voter support for [the] GOP” – even among Republicans.

See for yourself:

MSNBC Morning Joe: “This Polls Incredibly Badly”

• “The plan does say if you’re not paying income taxes currently, you have to pay them. Well that means it’s probably a tax increase on like 47% of people.”

• “When this is poll tested in various ways… they find that this polls incredibly badly.”

• “Even Republicans don’t like it, the elderly don’t like it. I think in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s research they found that 65% of people said it would make them less likely to support Republicans if they knew Republicans supported this plan to raise this amount of taxes.”

• “And it’s not just taxes that they’re talking about. He wants to cut, sunset, end, eliminate every federal program every five years. What does that mean? Well that means ending Medicaid, ending Medicare, ending Social Security, ending the Affordable Care Act and the various protections that it has in there for people with pre-existing conditions.”

• “So that polls badly as well Democrats have found. That’s why you’re seeing this raft of Democratic ads that are starting to attack Republicans over this.”

The Hill: Democratic poll: Ending Medicare, Social Security would hurt voter support for GOP

• A poll conducted on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee found that a majority of battleground state voters would be less likely to support Republicans if the GOP moved to end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

• Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in five years,” according to the poll, which was conducted by Blue Rose Research.

• The survey also found that 55 percent of voters said they would be less likely to support the party “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end the coverage protections for pre-existing conditions from the Affordable Care Act in five years.”

• Democratic campaign committees have… rolled out attack ads tying Republicans to Scott’s plan.

• On the issue of taxes, the poll found that 60 percent of voters said they would be less likely to support the GOP “if Senate Republicans have a new plan that would raise taxes on over half of all Americans, including seniors and working families.”

NBC News: Democrats field test how to make Rick Scott’s agenda backfire on GOP

• That proposal from the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee appears to be helping Democrats, or at least that’s what recent messaging testing found, according to documents obtained by NBC News.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently field-tested Scott’s plan with swing state voters and found strong aversion to the tax increase language as well as the idea of sunsetting all federally funded programs in five years, which would mean ending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

• When voters were asked about ending Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Scott’s plan proved to be the most potent of messages, according to the survey conducted by Blue Rose Research, a Democratic messaging and research firm.

• “This message drives the largest drop in Republican vote share among voters over 65+, Latino voters, and white voters without a college degree,” according to Blue Rose Research, which interviewed 2,777 voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin via online web panels March 25-30.

• The figures also showed voters were more likely to support a candidate who was “standing up against Senate Republicans’ new plan that would raise taxes on working families. Republicans’ plan would raise taxes on over half of all Americans — especially on seniors, families with children.”

• As for candidates who supported that tax portion of Scott’s plan, the survey showed 60 percent of voters said it made them less likely to back those Republicans.

• The survey also isolated the opinion of self-described Trump voters and found that, by 46-34 percent, they would be less likely to support candidates who favored cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

• When asked about ending the Affordable Care Act — and therefore allowing insurance companies to charge more money for health care and end “protections for pre-existing conditions” — most voters were also opposed, with 55 percent against the idea.

POLITICO Playbook PM: The midterm messaging war heats up

• Florida Sen. RICK SCOTT’s “Plan to Rescue America” — the NRSC chair’s proposed midterm guide for the GOP — was met with swift backlash when it debuted in late February, with Dems… decrying its contents. Now, Democrats are moving forward with their counterprogramming.

• “In a peek of its upcoming messaging strategy, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently field-tested Scott’s plan with swing state voters and found strong aversion to the tax increase language as well as the idea of sunsetting all federally funded programs in five years, which would mean ending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” NBC’s Marc Caputo reports. The two big takeaways:

• A potential line of attack for Dems: “When voters were asked about ending Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Scott’s plan proved to be the most potent of messages, according to the survey conducted by Blue Rose Research, a Democratic messaging and research firm. The field test showed that 65 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP, 16 percent said it made no difference and 19 percent — all conservatives — said it would make them more likely to back Republicans.”

• The value of choosing your battles: “The figures also showed voters were more likely to support a candidate who was ‘standing up against Senate Republicans’ new plan that would raise taxes on working families. Republicans’ plan would raise taxes on over half of all Americans — especially on seniors, families with children.’”

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