During the past two weeks our hypothetical Chief Executives (you) had to make a decision concerning U.S. policy on balancing the budget. The options presented to the President by his or her aides were the following:

Option A: Learn From Reagan's Mistakes -- balancing the budget should be a top priority, especially as the Baby Boomer generation draws closer to retirement age.

Option B: Learn From Hoover's Mistakes -- concentrating on a balanced budget could actually hurt our economy; it's often not really necessary.

The Results

Option A: 51%
Option B: 49%

Many who supported Option A felt that the first step in balancing the budget should be cutting down the "federal bureaucracy." Others said that the bigger the deficit, the higher the tax rates and pointed out that paying the interest on the national debt won't be so manageable once interest rates go up. On a less specific level several respondents felt that having a deficit damages our country's image and confidence.

Supporters of Option B said that investing in our country's infrastructure to encourage growth is more important than achieving a balanced budget. Many suggested cuts in entitlements, the military, and corporate welfare as ways to keep our budget under control. Some mentioned analyses showing that every time the government has balanced the budget a depression has followed. Some, however, said that the present candidates would never choose this option because it is not politically feasible.

Party Lines

Option	Democrats	Republicans	Independents	Other	Unregistered
Option A	10%	24%	9%	4%	2%
Option B	26%	3%	11%	2%	5%

The Significance of the Issue. Respondents clearly felt that this is an issue on which the government must take a stand. More people said that balancing the budget was "the most significant issue" than in any other poll we've conducted.

Issue	Most Significant	Very Important	Fairly Important	Not Very Important	Completely Irrelevant
Balancing the Budget	17%	49%	21%	9%	3%
Tobacco Regulation	0%	10%	28%	43%	15%
Trade Policy	6%	35%	45%	13%	0%
Campaign-Finance Reform	9%	41%	27%	20%	4%
Health-Care Reform	4%	39%	41%	13%	2%
Entitlement Reform	12%	56%	27%	4%	2%
Immigration Reform	2%	32%	50%	15%	1%

Age. Those over 55 were largely in favor of not balancing the budget, perhaps because some in that age group were born during the Depression, when a balanced budget was neglected in order to create government programs to aid those affected by the downturn in the economy.

Age Range	Option A	Option B
Under 18	1%	1%
18-34	20%	15%
35-44	15%	11%
45-54	11%	9%
Over 55	3%	11%

Race and Gender. There were too few non-white respondents to present a good statistical analysis of whether responses differed among the races. Women made up 17% of respondents to this scenario. They differed little from men in terms of how likely they were to select Option A or B, but they did have a different take on how significant the balanced-budget issue is.

Significance	Most Significant	Very Important	Fairly Important	Not Very Important	Completely Irrelevant
Female	1%	9%	6%	2%	1%
Male	17%	40%	15%	6%	0%

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