Judge Glock of the Manhattan Institute writes for City Journal about one of the things that seems to be missing from the “economic realignment” that is supposed to be happening in Washington: people actually voting as if such an alignment is taking place. “If anything, congressional votes and polling show that Republicans are more and more opposed to the left-wing economic drift of the Democratic Party,” he writes.

The CHIPS Act and infrastructure law passed with bipartisan support, but not as bipartisan as you might expect. Glock writes:

Infrastructure bills have long enjoyed support across the aisle, and, despite the name, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law represents a modern low point of bipartisanship. The law won the votes of 19 Republican senators, with 30 opposed, as [the New York Times‘ David] Leonhardt mentions. He did not make reference to the 200 House Republicans who voted against the law in the House, with just 13 in favor. By contrast, the last big infrastructure legislation, the so-called FAST Act in 2015, tallied 40 Senate Republican votes in favor and just 14 opposed. The act got 178 House Republicans on board (and all voting Democrats) versus just 65 opposed.

This one was less popular because it was more left-wing:

The reason that the recent infrastructure act secured so few Republican votes is that it was much more progressive than previous legislation. While the 2015 FAST Act spent $305 billion (just under $400 billion today) and was largely self-funded, the 2021 law cost $1.2 trillion and added about $250 billion in direct deficit spending. It focused less on core transportation priorities and more on progressive wish-lists, such as the green energy transition. Not surprisingly, a more left-wing bill garnered less Republican support.

The CHIPS Act was also opposed by large majorities of Republican senators and representatives. And the other planks of Biden’s economic agenda, the American Rescue Plan Act and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, received a total of zero Republican votes.

Even on the issue of trade, where both parties have imposed tariffs in the past several years, the picture is not as clear-cut as you might think. Glock writes:

In recent polls, the number of people who view trade as an “opportunity” instead of a “threat” was 61 percent, the highest in any period before Donald Trump. Despite Trump’s rhetoric, it was during his presidency that support for trade soared to unprecedented heights, almost reaching 80 percent among Republicans (though Republican support for trade declined back to early 2010s levels after Trump left office).

We’re now seeing the results of Biden’s self-consciously big-government economic agenda. Turns out people don’t like it very much. Republicans were both correct on policy and politically smart to unanimously oppose the ARPA and the IRA, and Democrats don’t seem to be gaining much political advantage from the two “bipartisan” laws.

“Under Biden’s presidency, the number of Americans who favor less government services and lower taxes grew rapidly, with 50 percent in favor, versus just 19 percent preferring more services and higher taxes,” Glock writes. “A supply-side agenda that met this demand would likely prove popular and could help restore America’s economic dynamism.”

That’s a good idea.