Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Deficit Solutions Meet With Public Skepticism

Consensus in Principle, Resistance in Practice

December 9, 2010

In many respects, there is a broad public consensus when it comes to the federal budget deficit: seven-in-ten say it is a major problem that must be addressed right away, and roughly two-thirds say that the best way to reduce the deficit is through a combination of cutting major government programs and increasing taxes. These views cross partisan lines, with majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents saying we must deal with it now, and that the best approach involves both program cuts and tax increases.

Yet this general consensus evaporates when concrete deficit reduction proposals are tested. And the Bowles-Simpson commission's effort to package spending cuts and tax increases into a comprehensive package has met with far more public opposition than support. Among those who have heard of the deficit commission's proposal, 48% disapprove and just 30% approve.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 1-5 among 1,500 adults finds that the deficit commission is not the only group that faces public skepticism when it comes to deficit reduction proposals. Neither Republican nor Democratic congressional leaders have much credibility on this issue, with majorities saying they have little or no confidence in each when it comes to dealing with the deficit. Obama is viewed more positively, by comparison, with a slim majority expressing at least a fair amount of confidence in his leadership on the deficit.

Most of the major deficit reduction proposals under discussion meet with public disapproval. Particularly unpopular are provisions that would tax the health insurance people receive from their employers (72% disapprove), raise the national gasoline tax (74% disapprove), and reduce federal funding to states for things like education and roads (71% disapprove). Of 12 ideas tested, just two meet with majority approval: increasing the amount of earned income that is subject to Social Security withholding (64% approve) and freezing the salaries of government workers (59% approve); the latter proposal is supported by President Obama and many Republicans.

The public is skeptical that much progress will be made in reducing the deficit in coming years. Just 37% think we will have made significant progress in reducing the federal budget deficit over the next five years, while 52% think we will not.

And reflecting the broad economic problems facing the nation, the deficit ranks far below the job situation as the biggest economic worry for most people, with no increase in focus on the deficit over the course of the year. In the new survey, 47% cite the job situation as the economic issue that most worries them, while fewer than half as many (19%) cite the budget deficit.

Deficit Solutions: Principle vs. Practice

There is broad, and bipartisan, agreement that the best approach to reducing the federal budget deficit involves a combination of both government cutbacks and increased taxes. Roughly two-thirds (65%) express this view, including majorities of Republicans (58%), Democrats (72%) and independents (67%). Relatively few Americans (16%) believe that focusing mostly on cutting major government programs is the best approach to take. Even among Republicans, only about a third (32%) say a strategy focused mostly on cutting government is the right line of attack. Even fewer Americans (4%) believe the best way to reduce the deficit is through a focus on increasing taxes.

Yet the recent proposals by a presidentially appointed bipartisan deficit reduction commission have met with far more public resistance than acceptance. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of Americans say they have heard about the commission's proposals, and disapproval outweighs approval by a 48%-to-30% margin among those who heard about them. Republicans, in particular, view the commission's proposals negatively - 58% disapprove and just 16% approve. Democrats are divided about evenly over the commission's proposals (42% approve, 41% disapprove).

Most Specific Proposals Opposed

Of 12 individual proposals for reducing the federal budget deficit, only two -- raising the current cap on payroll tax contributions to Social Security and freezing the salaries of government workers -- receive majority support. Fully 77% of Democrats support making Social Security payroll taxes apply to more of high-earners' incomes, as do 65% of independents. Republicans are less unified, but still about half (53%) back this idea. Freezing the salaries of federal government workers receives roughly the same level of support from Republicans (64%), Democrats (57%) and independents (62%) alike.

Another proposal -- reducing Social Security benefits for seniors with higher incomes -- divides the American public; 48% approve and 47% disapprove with no difference of opinion across party lines.

Two of the largest partisan gaps are on issues related to reducing military spending. Roughly half of Democrats (53%) approve of cutting back on military weapons programs as a way of reducing the deficit; 71% of Republicans disapprove of this idea. Republicans are equally opposed (70%) to reducing the number of people serving in the military. In this case, most Democrats (55%) share this opposition, though by a slimmer margin.

Republicans are also less supportive than Democrats of two tax proposals: a national sales tax and an increase in the gasoline tax. Republicans disapprove of the sales tax idea by a 62%-to-33% margin, while both Democrats and independents are more evenly divided.

On the gasoline tax, both Republicans and independents overwhelmingly reject a higher gas tax as a means of reducing the deficit (79% of each disapprove). Roughly two-thirds of Democrats (68%) also oppose raising the gasoline tax.

Republicans are somewhat more willing than Democrats to rethink Social Security and Medicare benefits in the interest of deficit reduction. While Democrats disapprove of gradually raising the Social Security retirement age by a two-to-one margin (65% disapprove, 33% approve), half (50%) of Republicans disapprove while 42% approve. Republicans also are slightly more supportive of raising the amount people on Medicare contribute to cover their health care costs (37% of Republicans, 29% of Democrats), though most disapprove of this idea across party lines.

Continue reading the full report, including findings on the Tea Party and deficits as well as who the public trusts on the issue, at people-press.org.