July 29, 2009, 3:00 pm
By Dalia Sussman
Most Americans continue to want the federal government to focus on reducing the budget deficit rather than spending money to stimulate the national economy, a new New York Times/CBS News poll finds. Yet at the same time, most oppose some proposed solution for decreasing it.
Fifty-six percent of respondents said that they were not willing to pay more in taxes in order to reduce the deficit, and
nearly as many said they were not willing for the government to provide fewer services in areas such as health care, education and defense spending.
Preference for deficit reduction ahead of spending to boost the economy peaks at 79 percent among Republicans, and also includes 60 percent of independents. It falls below half, to 43 percent, among Democrats.
Views of some solutions to the high deficit reflect underlying political philosophies, the poll found.
Democrats are the most opposed to having fewer government services – 62 percent are against it, compared with 50 percent of independents and 45 percent of Republicans. Republicans, for their part, are broadly opposed to paying more in taxes – 69 percent are, compared with 56 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted July 24-28 with 1,050 adults, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. More results from this survey will be available this evening at www.nytimes.com.
(emphasis added)
Where the hell did that come from?
Updated to add:
Poll: Public dissatisfaction growing with Obama, other Democrats<...>
Overall, Obama and the Democrats still have popular support.
The survey found that 53 percent of likely voters approve of the way that Obama is doing his job. It also found that the president and congressional Democrats had an advantage over Republicans on such issues and characteristics as health care, energy independence, honesty and middle class values.
"Obama continues to be very strong as a personal brand. Voters still like him," Lake said at a breakfast with reporters.
Yet he's facing public skepticism about his agenda, and potential problems with the key voting bloc of independents.
A solid majority of 61 percent, for example, said that Obama was spending too much money. A similar majority of 63 percent said he was trying to do too many things at once.
Skepticism was rampant among Republicans but also evident among independents.
Among independents, the poll found Obama's job approval dropping to 42 percent and his disapproval rising to 50 percent. Of that 50 percent who disapprove, the vast majority disapprove strongly, the poll found.
Independents also were much more likely than Democrats to say that Obama is spending too much money — 76 percent of independents said that — and is trying to do too much — 68 percent of independents.
<...>
Now lets look at these recent polls:
Poll: "Seven in 10 Americans favor the passage of new healthcare reform legislation"Voters settle on a public plan Wow thing sure have gone down hill since...Friday.
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