70% of Americans Don't Want Entitlements Cut
The Wall Street Journal reports:
President Barack Obama and many lawmakers say they will work to rein in the federal deficit, but a new survey underscores the challenges they face in taking specific steps that could help reduce the red ink.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Americans skeptical of deficit-cutting proposals laid out by the chairmen of a commission appointed by the White House. In the survey, 57% of respondents said they were uncomfortable with gradually raising the Social Security retirement age to 69 over the next 60 years. Some 41% said they were somewhat or very comfortable with the idea.
Roughly 70% were uncomfortable with making cuts to programs such as Medicare, Social Security and defense in order to reduce the deficit, with 27% saying they were comfortable.
And nearly 60% said they were uncomfortable with raising tax revenue through such measures as boosting the gasoline tax, limiting deductions on many home mortgages and altering corporate taxation. Nearly 40% said they were comfortable with those ideas.
But the findings show the national debate is still developing. Asked their views of the draft as a whole, 30% of respondents said they had no opinion.
The proposals were laid out last week by former Sen. Alan Simpson, a Republican, and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, a Democrat. They proffered a series of spending cuts, tax increases and tax-system changes, among other things, to trim about $3.8 trillion from the deficit over a decade. Messrs. Simpson and Bowles lead an 18-member panel that hasn't yet agreed on a final set of recommendations.
"Everybody wants to cut the deficit and cut the spending. But at the end of the day, everybody wants a choice that doesn't affect their well-being," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who co-directs the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
