Selzer & Company for Bloomberg, 12/4-7, 1,000 adults. MoE 3.1%.
Which of the following do you see as the most important issue facing the country right now? (Read list. Rotate.) Sorted.
50 Unemployment and jobs
25 The federal deficit and government spending
9 Health care
7 The war in Afghanistan
5 Immigration
1 Other (VOL) (specify:)
3 Not sure
Do you think now is the time for bold and fast change to bring down the federal deficit, even if it means more sacrifice for more people, or is it more important to minimize sacrifices for the American people?
40 Bold and fast change
51 More important to minimize sacrifice
9 Not sure
In its poll, Bloomberg asked respondents whether they supported or opposed specific proposals to reduce the deficit. Among the results:
- Non-defense discretionary spending freeze - 43% support, 53% oppose
- Cut defense spending - 45% support, 51% oppose
- Reduce Medicare benefits - 15% support, 82% oppose
- Reduce Medicaid benefits - 26% support, 72% oppose
- Lift payroll tax cap - 51% support, 38% oppose
- Reduce SS COLAs - 31% support, 65% oppose
- Create 6.5% national sales tax - 46% support, 49% oppose
- Slowly raise SS retirement age to 69 - 37% support, 60% oppose
- End tax cuts for wealthy - 59% support, 38% oppose
- SS means testing - 67% support, 27% oppose
- Impose tax on Wall Street profits - 70% support, 24% oppose
The thing to notice here is that the only measures with widespread support were the ones that asked the wealthy to pay more -- and the Wall Street profits tax idea was off-the-charts.
Now I can already hear Very Serious People saying that it would be class warfare for a politician to embrace these preferences, but that's absurd. The fact is that over the several decades, wealthy Americans have done fantastically well, but other than during the Clinton years, the middle-class has stagnated. Under Bush, middle-class Americans actually saw their incomes decline -- despite his tax cuts. So when Americans say raise taxes on the rich, they're really just responding to the fact that that's where the money is. It's not warfare, it's just reality.
In other notable findings from the poll:
- 55% favor repeal of the health care law
- 74% want comprehensive immigration reform
- 58% want to extend unemployment benefits for 99ers.
- 71% believe TARP recipients should be banned from giving out big bonuses this year. Another 17% favor a one-time 50% tax on such bonuses.
Another interesting finding: although most Americans oppose Social Security cuts, if they were to be imposed, 49% support applying the cuts immediately while 41% say they should not apply to current beneficiaries. About half of that 41% also believe the cuts shouldn't apply to anyone who will soon become a beneficiary.