Americans describe budget fight as "ridiculous"

The battle over the federal budget for the next six months is close to complete, but don't expect American citizens to praise Congress for finally brokering a deal. When asked to describe the budget battle that nearly led to a government shutdown in one word in a new survey, most Americans chose: "ridiculous."

Leaders in Congress late Monday finalized the details of the budget deal Democrats and Republicans agreed to late Friday night, which keeps the government running for the rest of the fiscal year and slashes $38.5 billion from this year's budget. Congress has yet to approve the deal with a vote, but it's expected to pass later this week.

The deal ended weeks of negotiations and the looming threat of a government shutdown. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Washington Post conducted a survey over the weekend that asked some of the respondents -- 427 of them -- to name the word that best described the negotiations. Twenty-nine people said "ridiculous," making it the most popular descriptor. The next most popular words were variations of: disgusting, frustrating and messy. Other words that were used multiple times included: horrible, bulls**t, childish and stupid.

As many as 69 percent of respondents used negative words, while just 3 percent used positive words and 16 percent gave neutral descriptors. The most positive word given at least four times was "fair."

The full survey, conducted April 7-10 among 1,004 adults, showed that most people blamed both Democrats and Republicans in Congress for the near shutdown -- 81 percent said Republican congressional leaders deserved some or a lot of the blame, while 82 percent said Democratic leaders did. More specifically, 37 percent said Republicans deserved a lot of the blame, while 33 percent said Democrats did.

President Obama fared better, but not by much: 32 percent said he deserved a lot of the blame, and a total of 70 percent said he deserved a lot or some of the blame.

When asked how much blame Republicans affiliated with the Tea Party deserved, 27 percent said a lot and 37 percent said some.

A CNN poll released late Monday also shows Americans were dissatisfied with the way congressional leaders handled the negotiations. However, this poll shows that most Americans were pleased with Mr. Obama's performance.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed between April 9-10 said they approved of the way Mr. Obama handled the budget negotiations, while 45 percent disapproved. For both Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, 44 percent of Americans said they approved of their handling of the negotiations, and 54 percent disapproved.

While the full details of the plan were only just released, the weekend survey showed that 58 percent of Americans said they supported the agreement and just 38 percent said they disapproved.