1 in 3 want expanded child tax credits to be made permanent: poll

Roughly one in three Americans questioned for a new poll say they support making expanded child tax credits permanent. 

The Politico/Morning Consult poll published Wednesday also found 18 percent say they wish to see the per-child tax credits extended beyond next year. 

Twenty-four percent of respondents said they support the program, which provides payments of up to $300 a month per child to most families with children.

Twenty-one percent, however, said they “strongly oppose” expanding the program and 17 percent indicated they “somewhat oppose” expanding the program.

A total of 38 percent of respondents also said that they credit President Biden with making the expanded child tax credits possible.

And nearly half, 47 percent, said they credit Democrats in Congress for the program.

The expanded child tax credit payments, which began in July, have become a major sticking point for progressives as lawmakers debate a massive spending package. 

Earlier this summer, Biden hailed what he called a “transformative” child tax credit program, and urged lawmakers to extend the benefits. 

“It’s a reflection of our belief that the people of this country who need a tax cut aren’t the folks at the top — they’ve gotten plenty of tax cuts, they’re doing fine — but it’s the people in the middle, the folks who are struggling or who are just looking for a little bit of, as my dad would say, a little breathing room,” Biden said in July.

“To the people who say we can’t afford to give the middle class a break, I say we can afford it by making people at the top and the big corporations … to finally just start paying their fair share,” Biden added. “People who are working hard and paying taxes deserve a break.”

Congressional Republicans, who expanded the credit in their 2017 tax cut law, have taken issue with the specific provisions in the relief law, which passed Congress without any support from GOP lawmakers.