This week, as President Biden signaled his intent to concede to moderate legislators and break up the Build Back Better Act into separate pieces of legislation, one of those legislators went on the Senate floor to defend the archaic filibuster. In doing so, he effectively killed the Freedom to Vote: John Lewis Act (FTVJLA), which would begin to rectify years of ongoing disenfranchisement against people of color.

It is absolutely par for the course that Joe Manchin is the reason why we can’t pass popular legislation. Sixty-three percent of voters, including Independents by a +39-point margin, support the bill. And a majority of voters, including Independents, support changing the filibuster to pass The Freedom to Vote Act.

Anyway, none of this should really be a surprise. We knew this was likely to happen, and the absolute gridlock in the Senate caused by two rogue barely-Democrats is proof that a) we really, really needed to win the Senate elections we lost in 2020, and b) we’re gonna need all the help we can get to try and win more Senate seats in 2022.

Read the full polling breakdown of the FTVJLA here.

Here are some other DFP highlights from over the past week:

We’re Tracking Omicron

In partnership with Prof. Brian Schaffner, the Newhouse Professor of Civic Studies at Tufts University, our latest coronavirus response tracking poll finds a sharp increase in the percent of Americans who say they know someone who has died from coronavirus. Over half of Americans also say they know someone who was hospitalized because of coronavirus symptoms.

Some interesting findings: Americans are largely worried about contracting the virus, and report changing our behaviors to protect ourselves and others. At the same time, while social distancing behaviors have recently trended upwards because of the Omicron variant, they are still far below what they were prior to when vaccines became widely available in the United States.

Read the full polling breakdown here.

Voters Want Congress to Like, Literally Do Anything About Climate Change

Oh yeah, in the midst of all this, a reminder that the planet is still on fire. And in a wild twist, voters aren’t okay with that. We partnered with Climate Power to poll voters on climate change concerns, and we find that almost 3 out of every 4 voters are concerned about extreme weather and climate change – and a majority of voters want Congress to address it.

The Build Back Better Act, which, yes, is still stalled in the Senate, includes vital investments to kickstart America’s path toward reducing half of our climate pollution by 2030. Voters support the clean energy investments in the Build Back Better Act, and want the bill passed. Expeditiously.

Read our Senior Climate Analyst Danielle Deiseroth’s full polling analysis here.

We’re Fighting to Permanently Expand the Child Tax Credit

Data for Progress partnered with the Groundwork Collaborative and Sen. Michael Bennet today on a press call to push for the renewal of the expanded Child Tax Credit. The expanded Child Tax Credit was a vital piece of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan that aided American families and helped to lift children out of poverty. A permanent expansion of this credit would provide an important boost to our economy and aid Americans, especially as we continue to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Featured on the call was our Senior Polling Analyst, Ethan Winter, who pointed out the following:

"Since that first round of [Child Tax Credit] checks came out, support has never dipped below 58 percent. And among recipients of the tax credit, that support is even higher, never dipping below 72 percent support. With likely voters closely associating this popular legislation with Democrats and the Biden administration, solidifying a permanent expansion would further prove to voters that Democrats get things done for working families."