July 29, 2009 3:00 PM

Poll: Americans Want Deficit Reduced

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Polling
(CBS)
A majority of Americans believe that the federal government should focus on reducing the budget deficit rather than spending to stimulate the economy, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds.

Asked whether the government should focus on deficit reduction or stimulus spending, 58 percent of those surveyed cited deficit reduction. Thirty-five percent, meanwhile, said the government should spend more to stimulate the economy.

Republicans and independents were more likely than Democrats to favor deficit reduction. Seventy-nine percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents preferred that the government focus on reducing the deficit, while nearly half of Democrats cited a preference for more stimulus spending.

While Americans overall favor deficit reduction, however, a majority are not willing to pay more in taxes or give up services in areas such as health care, education, and defense spending to do so.
Read The Complete Poll (pdf)>
Only 31 percent said they supported a cut in services to lower the deficit, while 53 percent opposed it. And while 41 percent said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to reduce the deficit, 56 percent said they would not.

CBS News will release the full poll, which covers perceptions of the president, the economy, health care and the police, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

More from the CBS News poll released Wednesday:

Poll: Obama Not Blamed For Economy

Poll: Public Conflicted Over Health Reform

Poll: Many Blacks Say Police Treat Them Unfairly

Poll: Americans Want Deficit Reduced

Video: Polling Director Sarah Dutton Discusses the Poll

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1050 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone July 24-28, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Add a Comment
by sjc_1 July 30, 2009 3:43 PM EDT
Where were they when Bush was racking up $5 trillion in debt over 8 years? During the 2004 election, Bush promised to cut the deficit in half in four years, instead he quadrupled it and no one said a thing. If it had been a Democrat that did that, Republicans would have been screaming bloody murder!
Reply to this comment
by bschlomach July 30, 2009 1:24 PM EDT
The chart is deceptively constructed. By leaving out the uncommitted, 53% is made to appear larger than 56%. Although a larger majority opposes taxes than opposes benefit cuts, the chart makes it appear just the opposite.
Reply to this comment
by beaumuff July 29, 2009 4:27 PM EDT
I quess this proves if the majority want a balanced budget then Obama is a one term president like Jimmy C.
Reply to this comment
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