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Americans think they want spending cuts right up until you get into specifics [1]
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Date: 2023-03-29
In any case, the shift back to respondents believing the government is spending too much is likely partly driven by less dire times, along with partisanship, where Republicans are practically pre-programmed to fault a Democratic president for overspending while giving their president a pass. Without seeing the cross tabs, however, it's difficult to be certain.
That said, the percentage of Americans in the poll who say the government spends "too much" also say the government spends too little on Social Security (62%) and Medicare (58%), health care (63%), education (65%), and infrastructure (62%).
As The Washington Post's Aaron Blake points out, those five items combined account for more than half of the federal budget.
The AP also notes big partisan differences in where the government is overspending.
Most Republicans say too much is spent on assistance to big cities (65% vs. just 19% of Democrats), and about half say too much is spent on the environment (51% vs. just 6% of Democrats). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to indicate that the military, law enforcement and border security are underfunded. By comparison, far more Democrats say too little is spent on aid for the poor (80% vs. 38% of Republicans), the environment (73% vs. 21% of Republicans), child care assistance (71% vs. 34% of Republicans), drug rehabilitation (67% vs. 36% of Republicans), and scientific research (54% vs. 24% of Republicans).
Among the 16 items listed, really the only area where a majority agreed the U.S. government was overspending (i.e., partisan agreement) was on "assistance to other countries" at 69%.
x Out of 16 things, the only one that even a majority agree we're spending too much on is foreign aid.
People like cutting spending in theory. They do not like it when you cut specific things -- and especially the big stuff that could actually put a dent in the deficit. pic.twitter.com/FYmiXvds1l — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 29, 2023
As Blake concluded, "People like cutting spending in theory. They do not like it when you cut specific things -- and especially the big stuff that could actually put a dent in the deficit."
The Republican Party’s leadership and its presidential candidates have leaned further and further into doom-and-gloom “woke apocalypse” rhetoric. Kerry and Markos analyze what has so far been a losing strategy to make Americans feel frightened of demanding actual policy ideas from Republicans.
Add your name: Redirect Pentagon spending to invest in human needs
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/29/2160901/-Americans-want-spending-cuts-just-not-on-big-ticket-items-like-Social-Security-health-care
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