l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 48% See Need to Change Defense, Social Security, Medicare To Make Serious,
Long-Term Spending Cuts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Just under half of voters understand that making major cuts in government
spending over the long haul will require substantial changes in three of the
most politically sensitive areas of the federal budget.
Forty-eight percent (48%) of Likely U.S. Voters recognize that it is
necessary to make major changes in defense, Social Security, and Medicare to
make truly significant, long-term cuts in government spending, according to
a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirty-seven percent (37
%) don’t believe changes of this kind are necessary. Fifteen percent (15%)
are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Most Republicans (54%) and voters not affiliated with either major political
party (51%) understand that major changes in defense, Social Security and
Medicare will be needed to guarantee significant, long-term spending cuts. A
plurality of Democrats (46%) disagree and don’t think such changes will be
required.
The Political Class is closely divided on the question, while 51% of
Mainstream voters see major changes in the three politically touchy areas as
necessary to ensure serious, long-term spending cuts.
As recently as November, voters were evenly divided when asked if the
majority of federal spending goes to just national defense, Social Security
and Medicare. Forty-one percent (41%) recognized the truth of this statement
, but 39% disagreed with it and 20% were undecided.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).
Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 7-8, 2011 by
Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points
with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys
is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
The majority of voters continue to say as they have in surveys for years
that cutting taxes and reducing government spending are best for the economy
. Most voters also want a government that offers fewer services and lower
taxes.
But 68% of voters feel any proposed changes to Medicare and Social Security
should be approved by a vote of the American people.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of male voters recognize that to make truly
significant, long-term spending cuts, it will be necessary to make major
changes in defense, Social Security and Medicare. Just 43% of female voters
agree.
Voters under the age of 40 recognize much more strongly than their elders
the need to tackle these three areas to achieve major federal budget cuts.
Those who earn over $60,000 a year are much more likely to agree than those
who earn less.
Indicative of voter support for spending cuts is the finding late last month
that 57% felt deeper budget cuts were more important than avoiding a
partial government shutdown. But 53% also recognized that the proposed
deeper Republican cuts, opposed by most Democrats, would have little impact
on overall levels of spending and deficits.
Voters expressed similar feelings about the three-year freeze on government
discretionary spending that President Obama proposed in his State of the
Union speech last year. While most approved of the freeze, 81% said it would
have no impact on the nation’s historic-level budget deficits.
The skepticism may be rooted in the fact that voters routinely vote for
politicians who promise to cut taxes and spending, but 60% realize that
government spending in America has gone up every single year since 1954.
Voters are fairly evenly divided as to whether the federal government spends
too much or too little on national defense, but most also appear to
dramatically underestimate how much is actually spent.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are
available to Platinum Members only. |
|
