In the latest Congressional Connection Poll, respondents supported a mix of ideas for balancing America's books
As President Obama challenged congressional Republicans with his new deficit plan on Monday, voters are rejecting the idea of reducing the nation's debt through spending cuts alone--but there is no clear-cut enthusiasm for any specific proposal offered by either political party and even less confidence in their ability to get things done.
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When asked if the congressional super committee that is charged with recommending at least $1.2 trillion in reductions from the deficit should rely "entirely on spending cuts without any tax increases," only 28 percent of voters said yes, according to the new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll. The cuts-only position is basically the one offered by the Republican leadership in Congress and by the candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
Congressional Democrats and President Obama have offered what they call a "balanced approach" of tax hikes and spending cuts to reduce the federal deficit, and voters overwhelmingly favored such an approach, albeit to varying degrees. When he unveiled his deficit-reduction plan on Monday, the president insisted that tax hikes be a part of any deficit solution. That would seem to be in sync with voters. "Relying about three-fourths on spending cuts and one-fourth on tax increases" was the choice of 20 percent of respondents.
"Relying about equally on spending cuts and tax increases" was slightly more popular, with 26 percent of respondents supporting that approach. A much smaller number of voters--16 percent--favored "relying mostly on tax increases with smaller spending cuts." But overall, voters showed slightly more confidence in Republicans in Congress to "make the right decisions about how to reduce the federal deficit." By 38 percent to 36 percent, voters said they trusted Republicans more than President Obama to make the right decisions about the economy. That's within the survey's margin of error.