Overall, the President’s approval rating in the Economist/YouGov Poll remains mired in the 40’s. This week, in fact, it has dropped to 43%. 49% disapprove.
His ratings on economic issues, like the deficit, taxes and his handling of the economy overall, remain in the 30’s. Majorities disapprove of his management of all of these.
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the following issues?
| Approve | Disapprove | No Opinion | |
|---|---|---|---|
The economy | 34% | 57% | 8% |
The budget deficit | 30% | 60% | 11% |
Taxes | 32% | 55% | 13% |
Americans do want to see the budget cut. Nearly nine in ten say the size of the deficit is something that concerns them. 72% of adults (and even 55% of Democrats) want the government to decrease the amount of money it spends. 52% of adults support the goal of cutting $100 billion from the President’s budget. 36% (including 46% of Republicans) want to balance the budget immediately.
But where should the cuts come from? 38% of those who want to cut the budget want cuts to come more from the domestic side, while 29% would like to see more come from the defense side. Nearly two in three Republicans want to have most of the cuts be from domestic programs.
Would you rather cut more from defense spending or domestic spending?(Asked if respondent favors cutting government spending)
| Total | Democrats | Republicans | Independents | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Entirely from defense spending | 8% | 13% | 1% | 10% |
More from defense | 21% | 35% | 10% | 24% |
About equally from both | 33% | 37% | 26% | 28% |
More from domestic | 26% | 12% | 41% | 26% |
Entirely from domestic spending | 12% | 2% | 21% | 11% |
As for where to cut, there is majority support among those who want to cut the budget for cuts to high-speed rail (53%), the National Endowment for the Arts (60%), the National Endowment for the Humanities (52%), public broadcasting (50%), and international food aid (50%). Republicans are more aggressive when it comes to cutting all programs asked about. More than four in ten Republicans favor cuts to NASA, and spending on renewable energy. But most Americans (and most Republicans, too) reject cuts to budget lines like community health centers, rebuilding highways and bridges, low-income housing assistance, and maternal and child nutrition programs.
As for raising taxes as a way of reducing the deficit, even most Democrats reject that option. Just 20% of adults (and 34% of Democrats) would increase taxes, while 38% overall would decrease them.
Do you think that the federal government should increase or decrease taxes?
| Total | Democrats | Republicans | Independents | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Increase | 20% | 34% | 3% | 24% |
Keep the same | 28% | 31% | 30% | 26% |
Decrease | 38% | 21% | 58% | 41% |
Not sure | 14% | 13% | 8% | 10% |
