I've casually said that President Biden's "Build Back Better" infrastructure spending proposal is a plan for winning elections in addition to rebuilding the country, but this new report from economists at Georgetown University makes that a little more explicit.
Researchers say Biden's spending proposal -- or at least what he will announce in public today -- will benefit people without college degrees more than any other demographic.
About 75% of the infrastructure jobs created would go to workers with no more than a high school diploma, while the rest would require an associate's degree or higher, Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) in Washington said in a report.
CEW estimates the investment would create 8 million jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less and 4.8 million jobs for those with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree.
"What's interesting is that this plan really gives them a chance to create opportunity for people who have a high school degree or less," Nicole Smith, research professor and chief economist at Georgetown's CEW, told Reuters.
As you may know, Republican electoral politics and their only shot of winning rests with non-college educated white voters who back them in huge numbers.
Even peeling off a few percentage points of those voters would make it very difficult for Republicans to regain a majority in Congress or win the White House and this plan seems tailor made to doing that.
Electoral politics aside, it is also true that people without college degrees need the most help in the post-coronavirus economy and this plan would be good for the country in any case. The fact that it will also be good for Democrats is just bonus but -- politics being what it is -- I'm sure Biden's advisers also had it in mind.
I'm honestly impressed. He's being advised by very smart people. They're going to get things done and make sure Trumpism stays dead at the same time.