PoliCon
10-27-2010, 04:42 PM
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Roughly one-quarter of Americans say they receive some form of cash benefits from the government, and most are not willing to sacrifice any of that money to help cut the size of the federal budget.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of Adults say they do not receive any kind of government cash benefits, but 23% say they do. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Of those who do receive government money, just 34% are at least somewhat willing to cut some of their own benefits to reduce the size of the federal budget, with 14% who say they are Very Willing to do so. But 63% are not willing to consider any benefit reductions, including 33% who are Not At All Willing.
Benefit payments for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up a sizable portion of the federal government's budget, but 37% of adults think taxpayers can no longer continue to fund those services at current projected levels. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans think it is at least somewhat likely that the federal government will have to make cuts in government spending in the next 10 years, with 59% who say it is Very Likely.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on October 21-22, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Not surprisingly, low-income adults and adults over 65 are the biggest recipients of government benefits. Unmarried adults and adults without children are much more likely to receive government benefits than married adults and adults with children at home.
Over half of U.S. voters are not confident that Social Security will be able to pay out all their promised retirement benefits during their lifetime.
Americans are evenly divided over the idea of paying higher taxes to save their Social Security benefits, but older adults like the idea much more than those who are younger.
A plurality of voters (41%) are fine with a budget deficit if it comes with tax cuts. They prefer it to a balanced budget that requires higher taxes.
Many states are already in a budget crisis, and most Americans think politicians, not taxpayers, are to blame. They think spending cuts, not higher taxes, are the solution, but most expect their taxes to be raised in the next year anyway.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/october_2010/little_willingness_to_cut_back_among_those_who_get _government_benefits
Roughly one-quarter of Americans say they receive some form of cash benefits from the government, and most are not willing to sacrifice any of that money to help cut the size of the federal budget.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of Adults say they do not receive any kind of government cash benefits, but 23% say they do. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Of those who do receive government money, just 34% are at least somewhat willing to cut some of their own benefits to reduce the size of the federal budget, with 14% who say they are Very Willing to do so. But 63% are not willing to consider any benefit reductions, including 33% who are Not At All Willing.
Benefit payments for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up a sizable portion of the federal government's budget, but 37% of adults think taxpayers can no longer continue to fund those services at current projected levels. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans think it is at least somewhat likely that the federal government will have to make cuts in government spending in the next 10 years, with 59% who say it is Very Likely.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on October 21-22, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Not surprisingly, low-income adults and adults over 65 are the biggest recipients of government benefits. Unmarried adults and adults without children are much more likely to receive government benefits than married adults and adults with children at home.
Over half of U.S. voters are not confident that Social Security will be able to pay out all their promised retirement benefits during their lifetime.
Americans are evenly divided over the idea of paying higher taxes to save their Social Security benefits, but older adults like the idea much more than those who are younger.
A plurality of voters (41%) are fine with a budget deficit if it comes with tax cuts. They prefer it to a balanced budget that requires higher taxes.
Many states are already in a budget crisis, and most Americans think politicians, not taxpayers, are to blame. They think spending cuts, not higher taxes, are the solution, but most expect their taxes to be raised in the next year anyway.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/october_2010/little_willingness_to_cut_back_among_those_who_get _government_benefits