Gallup poll shows Americans want spending cuts, not stimulus spending

Hotair ^ | 12/08/2010 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

Almost everyone, it seems now, understands that the economy isn’t growing significantly, certainly not enough to get the kind of job creation necessary to lower unemployment. What policies do Americans want taken to kick-start it back into high gear? Gallup polled over a thousand general-population adults, and found that Keynesianism is in fact dead as a strategy:

Americans do not show a strong consensus for any of the approaches, but clearly reject additional economic stimulus spending. Theincreased government spending in late 2008/early 2009 to bail out major U.S. corporations and attempt to jump-start the economy concerned many Americans and helped fuel the Tea Party movement, leading to significant Democratic losses in Congress in the midterm elections. That concern is also reflected in Americans’ endorsing deficit reduction as an economic strategy over generally popular approaches like tax cuts or tax hikes on the wealthy.

Both independents and Republicans choose deficit reduction as the preferred economic approach. Republicans even choose it over tax cuts, a core Republican Party goal, by a 14-point margin. Democrats are less inclined to back deficit reduction, with a majority instead choosing to increase taxes on the wealthy.

Overall, Americans choose spending cuts (39%) over class-warfare tax hikes on the wealthy (31%), while almost no one argues for increases in government “stimulus” spending, which comes in at a lowly 5%. Even among Democrats, Keynesianism is an ex-parrot; only 9% see that as the strategy for economic recovery.

The rest of the results show Democrats far out of step with the rest of the country. Only 24% want spending cuts, as opposed to 42% of independents and 49% of Republicans. A majority of Democrats want tax hikes on the wealthy (52%), an option that appeals to less than a third of independents (30%) and only 11% of Republicans. Only 35% of Republicans want tax cuts at this juncture, which as Gallup notes comes in 14 points behind spending cuts.

The ever-brilliant editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez of Investors Business Daily explained this week that the solution to ballooning deficits and debt was not just elementary, but even more basic. Ramirez gives a voice to the generation that will have to deal with the consequences:

[JohnBrowdie]

ironically enough, the dems have destroyed any confidence that the public may have had in stimulus spending themselves. their billion dollar "stimulus" was the biggest failure in the history of payola.

they may as well have shoveled a billion bucks out of an airplane -- but only when flying over the houses of unions bosses and dem special interests. it would have probably accomplished more that way.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

The average American doesn’t have a clue what “Macroeconomics” even means. Who cares what they think. I don’t take a poll about how to build a bridge or treat a disease either.

The debate is real, but who the heck cares what the average Joe thinks is the right move for a $13 trillion highly diversified economomy. It is complex and the cartoon is actually true in so far as anyone who thinks the answer is that simple really is a baby and probably deserves the nanny state he is getting.

Ask them what spending they should cut and they would tell you “waste”. But that isn’t anything specific. No one in the GOP has rallied around cutting anything of substance yet (social security, medicate and military are the only real options) because they all know that Americans only want to cut spending in theory and not in practice.

Spending cuts are the absolute long-term solution, but they needs to be coupled with a change of mind-set. Otherwise the short-term negative effects of any signficant cuts will drive people into the hands of the RATS again. And we will have another New Deal, but instead of 4 terms, we will get a President for life.

[xtinct]

about that stimulus spending...

November 22, 2010 Boston Herald... woman lamenting about how the stimulus money which was used to subsidize her rent ($1,000 per month to her) will dry up in January.

Exactly how did this create jobs?

[God luvs America]

bump

[SonOfDarkSkies]

their billion dollar "stimulus" was the biggest failure in the history of payola.

Trillion...not billion.

[NRG1973]

I agree with the results of this poll!!! Stimulus spending only extends the recession. We need to get our economic house in order and the federal government needs to lead the way by reducing the budget/deficit. The way to reduce the budget/deficit is through spending cuts...not tax increases.

[JohnBrowdie]

Trillion...not billion.

indeed. I stand corrected. thank you. typing the word "trillion" is still an unnatural act for me.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I make that mistake all the time.;-)

[hinckley buzzard]

One of the problems is that the average person doesn't know where the waste is, even though he is intuitively correct. The congressmen know where the waste is, because they put it there. All that is needed is a political imperative.

As Reagan correctly diagnosed, the solutions to our problems are not complicated, but they are hard.

[Cobra64]

One of the problems is that the average person doesn't know where the waste is... Pretty much any department or agency established since 1960 should be eliminated..

Then...

.

Now...

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