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The vast majority of Americans want the next president to balance the government's books, yet they oppose cuts in the costliest federal programs.
According to a recent MSN-Zogby poll, 94% of Americans want the presidential candidates to explain how they would make the government live within its means.
Most Americans oppose cuts in major government programs, but 50% also said they wouldn't vote for a candidate who proposed higher taxes to balance the budget. Only 35% said they would be willing to pay more taxes to maintain the current level of spending.
The federal government runs a deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars a year as it borrows to help fund health care, the military, education and many other programs. (The shortfall for the current year is $205 billion, according to White House estimates released last month.)
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, rising costs for entitlements such as Social Security and health care could eventually result in ballooning deficits and swamp all other programs.
'Choices are limited'
"To prevent those deficits from growing to levels that could impose substantial costs on the economy, the choices are limited: Revenues must rise as a share of GDP (gross domestic product), projected spending must fall, or both," budget-office Director Peter Orszag said in a letter to the U.S. Senate (.pdf file).In contrast, 82% of Americans said their own households live within their means. Those with less income are more likely to face a budget crunch -- 24% earning less than $25,000 a year said they spend more than they make -- and the percentage falls as income grows.
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Identifying the government's budgetary problems is easier than finding solutions. Social Security, health-care programs and defense each account for about one-fifth of federal spending, according to the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group. Interest on the federal debt accounts for about 9% of total spending, and all other government programs account for about 25%.
Though there is opposition to cutting each program, Medicare drew the strongest reaction, with 82% of Americans against cuts.
Social Security is the government's most expensive program, which experts say could soon overwhelm other spending. The program is funded through a payroll tax and currently takes in more than it pays out, but that will change over the next few years, as more baby boomers reach retirement age and tap the program. Yet 80% of Americans said they oppose cuts in it, and 62% said they wouldn't vote for a candidate who proposed cuts.
Meanwhile, 70% said they oppose cuts in Medicaid, the health program for the poor.
In general, people were more accepting of cuts if they wouldn't be affected. For example, support for cutting Social Security is strongest among younger Americans (25%), and support for cutting Medicaid was highest among those with more than $75,000 in income (45%). Of those ages 18 to 24, the group that tends to earn the least, 41% said they would vote for a president who proposed raising taxes.
The online survey of 6,769 adults nationwide was conducted July 10-12 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
Should Social Security benefits be cut to help balance the budget? | Should Medicaid benefits be cut to help balance the budget? | |||||||
Yes | 12.70% | Yes | 20.20% | |||||
No | 80.30% | No | 69.70% | |||||
Not sure | 7% | Not sure | 10.10% | |||||
Would you vote for a presidential candidate who proposed cutting Social Security? | Should defense spending be cut to help balance the budget? | |||||||
Yes | 19.60% | Yes | 45.90% | |||||
No | 62.20% | No | 45.40% | |||||
Not sure | 18.20% | Not sure | 8.70% | |||||
Should Medicare benefits be cut to help balance the budget? | Would you vote for a presidential candidate who proposed higher taxes to help balance the budget? | |||||||
Yes | 12% | Yes | 35.40% | |||||
No | 82.20% | No | 50.40% | |||||
Not sure | 5.70% | Not sure | 14.30% | |||||
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