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April 1, 2011

Rasmussen survey: 57% prefer government shutdown to current levels of spending if it leads to deeper budget cuts

Topics: Political News and commentaries

A new Rasmussen survey provides some troubling news for Democrats, clearly showing that they've been barking up the wrong tree on the budget cut issue. A majority of voters are fine with a partial shutdown of the federal government if that's what it takes to get deeper cuts in federal government spending:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think making deeper spending cuts in the federal budget for 2011 is more important than avoiding a partial government shutdown. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree and say avoiding a shutdown is more important. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.

Ed Morrissey offers some highly pertinent commentary that the Democrats would do well to pay attention to:

Here is the exact wording of the question: "What is more important: avoiding a partial government shutdown or making deeper cuts in government spending?" The wording actually assumes that cuts in government spending have already been secured, which means that the response keys off of whether those cuts went far enough. Only 31% agree with Chuck Schumer (ow whoever writes his flashcards) that seeking further cuts is an "extreme" position.

Nor does the news get any better from there for Democrats. When asked whether it would be better to avoid a government shutdown by compromising at the level of cuts proposed by Democrats, only 36% agreed. The same majority of 57% said it would be better to proceed with the partial government shutdown rather than settle for the smaller figure.

The internals won't comfort Democrats, either. On the last question, only 69% of their own party supports their cuts, while a little more than a quarter would prefer a shutdown (27%). Republicans and independents are almost identical in their rejection of Democratic proposals on budget cuts (15/74 and 24/70, respectively). The shutdown option has a majority in every age demographic, even 18-29YOs at 34/50. It also wins every income demographic, including the under-$20K group (38/50), and gets more than 2-1 support from those making $40-60K (25/64). None of these are even particularly close, so even if one is inclined to treat Rasmussen a little skeptically, the pattern is still clear.

Rasmussen points out that the current survey's results show little change from late February when 58% of voters said it was better to have a partial government shutdown than to keep spending at current levels.

Posted by Richard at April 1, 2011 4:00 PM

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