Posted on 04/25/2017 7:35:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
That’s not unheard of, according to Pew, but it’s awfully rare over the last 40 years polling. And it doesn’t seem to be a fluke result in light of yesterday’s NBC poll. That survey found 57 percent saying that government should do more to solve problems and meet the needs of Americans, a 20-year high. Pew asked a different question along the same lines: Do you prefer a bigger government that offers more services or a smaller one that offers fewer services? Result: 48/45. The last time that metric was evenly split was 2008.
Pew drilled down and asked people which services specifically they’d like to see the government spend more money on. Veterans’ benefits? Hell yes. Scientific research? You betcha. Defense? Yep yep yeppers. Among 14 different categories of spending tested, only two — assistance to needy people abroad and the State Department(!) — had more people saying the feds should decrease spending rather than increase it, and the margins in both cases were small. Pluralities or outright majorities favored increasing spending in the other 12. In none of the 14 tested did “decrease spending” attract anything close to an outright majority. As depressing as that is for fiscal conservatives, there’s nothing unusual about it. When Pew ran this same sort of poll four years ago, the results were similar. The difference between now and then is that Americans at least aren’t pretending that they favor smaller government while they’re calling for Congress to throw more money at every problem under the sun.
Actually, there’s something else that’s different too — the trendlines. Check this out.
In every spending category offered (yes, even the forlorn State Department), a greater share of Americans support increased spending now than supported it in 2013. Partly that may be due to a better economy, with people more willing to spend as they feel more secure about growth, but I’m sure it’s also partly due to Republicans getting more comfortable with federal spending under Trump. Case in point: In 2013, just 28 percent of GOPers supported increased spending on roads and infrastructure versus 21 percent who wanted less spending on those things. Today the share of Republicans who support increased spending has nearly doubled to 55 percent, just six points behind Democrats. Leadership matters.
Pew of crap
Pew and NBC said that Hillary would win the election. Why even publish these fake polls?
More fake news from Pew and NBC.
How correct were they on their predictions that Trump would not be elected as our president.
When the polls are one-sided questions that ask if people want benefits while not mentioning the costs, the results are garbage. GIGO.
Dear Pew:
If anyone wants to make a point using your polling, I will laugh at them.
As Bob Hope would say, “thanks for the memories.”
5.56mm
wrong question.
should have asked... which services would YOU personally pay more taxes to fund!
And was lauded for predicting President Hillary Clinton’s electoral thrashing of Rep. Candidate Donald Trump. No bias there
Pew >>> Phew >>> P U
1) It’s a shortened term for puteo, which is Latin for “to stink, be redolent, or smell bad.” I actually called a professor of Latin at the University of Florida to verify this one.
2) It’s actually spelled “piu,” but is often pronounced as “pee-yew”. It’s root is the Indo-European word “pu,” meaning to rot or decay. A lot of other languages use this root word and have the same general meaning.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/26013/what-does-p-u-in-reference-to-stinkiness-stand-for
Can you imagine the difference the results of most polls would be if one is taken in Kansas and the same one taken in New Jersey????
Yes of course we want bigger government, that’s why the party of bigger government keeps winning - oh wait never mind; but thank you oh so much honest media.
“Government service” is an oxymoron.
This is a Pew poll and it is the first time they have managed to get more wanted a bigger government than a smaller government.
So we can rest assured we’ve not actually quite crossed that appalling tipping point yet.
But two thirds of Americans want more federal money spent on education? How about educating them on the Constitution!
The National Debt is now $20 trillion.
And most people have yet so see any of the downsides
to that in their personal situations.
Not to worry, according to the article they polled 630 repubs vs 771 dems. As usual, they poll to get the results they want.
Did they poll any givers or only the takers?
They also prefer not paying taxes. This is why tax reform has to be more than tax cuts and taking people off the tax rolls. In retrospect, the worst mistake Reagan made with his tax reform was taking the poor off of the tax rolls. They now have zero incentive to cut government. If people had the pain of paying for all this expanded government, they’d sing a different tune. But if they get it for free, why not?
Gimme gimme gimme and let the “rich” pay for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.