A Washington Post/Ipsos poll that claims President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (BBB) faces “nearly 2-1 opposition” among Americans cannot be trusted because key details about who responded to the survey are not revealed to readers, according to international pollster Brent Buchanan.

The Post/Ipsos poll found that 42% of those surveyed oppose Trump’s BBB for “changing tax, spending and Medicaid policies,” while 23% support the proposal and 36% have no opinion. The June 17 Post front-page news story on the result said most Americans know little or nothing about the bill, while opposition is strongest among those who do.

“But most people are not very aware of the legislation, and among those who have heard about the bill, it is unpopular. About two-thirds of the public say they have heard either little or nothing about the bill. Those who have heard a great deal or a good amount about it oppose it by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, 64 percent to 33 percent, with nearly half strongly in opposition,” the Post reported.

Reputable pollsters routinely provide readers with detailed demographic data breaking down the age, income, party registration, voting proclivities, and other characteristics of those responding to questions in a survey. The Post/Ipsos Methodological Details references use of a survey tool known as KnowledgePanel, but no details specific to the survey’s sample are provided.

“Ipsos conducted sampling, interviewing and tabulation for the survey using the KnowledgePanel, a representative panel of adults age 18 and over living in the United States. KnowledgePanel members are recruited through probability sampling methods using address-based sampling. Panel members who do not have internet access are provided with a tablet and internet service,” the Post explained.

A spokesman for The Washington Post could not be reached for comment.

That absence of specific details about who was surveyed by the Post/Ipsos poll is a huge obstacle to taking the results seriously, Buchanan told The Washington Stand in an interview. He is the president and founder of Arlington, Va.-based Cygnal, which describes itself as “an award-winning international polling, public opinion and predictive analytics firm whose clients include Fortune Global 500 companies, foreign heads of state, presidential campaigns, U.S. senators, congressmen, dozens of state legislative caucuses, and trade associations.”

“One of the core issues is that they don’t release any of the demographics of who they surveyed. It could be 70% female for all we know because they didn’t tell us. And there’s a couple of key factors you have to look at on a survey to make sure that it’s representative,” Buchanan said. He serves as treasurer of the International Association of Political Consultants.

“They surveyed all adults, and then they had a separate column for registered voters, and they don’t tell you any of the sample sizes or details of the demographic differences. But the biggest challenge is you’ve got to make sure you have educational attainment correct, who has a degree, you have to make sure you have partisanship, and age, and income. I mean, those are really key factors to look at,” Buchanan continued.

Buchanan added that knowing the demographic makeup of a survey sample is especially important in 2025 because Democratic base voters share multiple characteristics — older, more affluent, higher education levels — that make them five times more likely to respond when approached by a pollster.

Buchanan noted that in his firm’s June 2-3 national survey of likely 2026 voters, Trump’s BBB has strong public support overall, as well as majorities backing specific provisions.

“When asked about individual policies contained within, voters net support every policy in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, but the most popular are eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay (+51 net support) and increasing the standard tax deduction for low- and middle-income seniors (+56 net support),” according to the survey summary.

“As a policy package, the One Big Beautiful Bill performs well: Unbranded, it’s supported by a 6-point margin (49-43), including even higher support margins among swing voters (+9), parents (+11), and voters earning under $75K (+5). Notably, wealthy voters earning more than $200K are among the least supportive (-16 net support),” the survey said.

Interestingly, the survey also found that support for the BBB drops, especially among women, when Trump’s backing is connected to the proposal. Without Trump’s endorsement, the proposal enjoys a six-point advantage, compared to a nine-point negative swing with Trump’s support. Women voters showed a 12-point drop in support when informed of the Trump link to the BBB.

The Cygnal survey included detailed demographics of its sample respondents, including the fact 53.6% were female and 46.4% were males, as well as 45.5% of the respondents having at least a bachelor degree. Rural residency was reported by 27% of the respondents, with 51.5% being suburbanites and 21.1% being urban.

Politically, the Cygnal survey sample respondents included 23.3% who described themselves as “strongly Republican” versus 21.8% who chose “strongly Democrat.” On the ideological scale, 21.8% said they are “strongly conservative,” while 12.9% were “strongly liberal.”

The House of Representatives approved the BBB in May, and the Senate is now moving towards a vote on its version before the July 4 Independence Day national holiday. There will be significant differences between the House and Senate versions of the proposal, however, which will require a conference committee to work out an agreement on a final version later in the summer.