It’s the Spending, Stupid

In Washington, Democrats and Republicans are engaged in a slow-motion showdown over the budget. Republicans want to close the deficit by cutting spending–although, to be fair, their proposals so far are modest at best–while the Democrats don’t want to close the deficit at all. If pressed, the Dems’ preferred course is to raise taxes.
Republicans should gain courage from these findings by Scott Rasmussen. Interestingly, this is an “all adults” poll as opposed to likely voters:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that just 20% of Adults would be willing to pay higher taxes to help reduce the federal budget deficit. Seventy-one percent (71%) would not be willing to do so.

This is because an overwhelming majority believe that the problem is excessive spending, not insufficient taxation:

At the same time, … 83% of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.

The Republicans need to keep hammering away on the theme that the federal government must reduce its debt, and should do so by cutting spending. They are winning that argument with the American people.

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