At Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, people walk past a Heritage Foundation welcome sign for the Republican National Convention RNC on July 12, 2024. The Heritage Foundation is known for its controversial Project 2025.
Republican candidates might avoid discussing the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 because it’s not popular with voters.
Recent polling by the House Majority PAC, which aims to elect Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives, shows that Project 2025 is widely disliked. In some districts, it’s almost universally unpopular.
For example, in Montana’s western Congressional district, which includes Missoula and Kalispell, Project 2025 has only a 10% favorability rating and a 46% unfavorable rating.
Incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke, who previously served in Donald Trump’s cabinet, is running against Democratic challenger Monica Tranel, an attorney in public utilities.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 includes a scorecard that rates Congress members based on their alignment with its goals. A score above 60 is considered favorable, and Zinke has a high rating of 74.
The Daily Montanan contacted the Zinke campaign for his views on Project 2025 but did not get a response. Zinke has largely avoided discussing Project 2025, though several of his former Trump cabinet colleagues are involved in it.
Despite Republican efforts to distance themselves from Project 2025, officially titled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Donald Trump has supported several of its ideas, like eliminating the federal Department of Education. Many of his former staffers were involved in its creation, and his advisor Stephen Miller has made promotional videos for it.
According to a recent New York Times report, Trump’s vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, praised a Heritage Foundation report from 2017 that influenced sections of Project 2025 on abortion and in vitro fertilization.
The House Majority PAC poll shows that Project 2025 is the most negatively viewed issue among those surveyed. About 50% of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of it, and 27% of self-identified Republicans also viewed it unfavorably.