March 29, 2010 - Middle Class Must Suffer To Close Deficit, Voters Say 8-1, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Don't Touch Social Security Or Medicare Word format Although 84 percent of Americans say the middle class will have to make financial sacrifices to reduce the federal budget deficit, more than three quarters of them oppose raising income taxes on the middle class or limiting the growth of Social Security and Medicare, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Looking at ways to reduce the deficit, 49 percent of voters want all budget reductions through spending cuts, while 4 percent want it done only through tax hikes, and 42 percent favor a combination of the two, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. If a combination of the two are to be done to reduce the deficit, 29 percent want an equal amount in spending cuts and tax increases; 52 percent favor more spending cuts and 12 percent want a larger amount in tax increases. "Social Security and Medicare are the two largest domestic items in the federal budget, and between them now make up more than a third of federal spending. Under current law, these programs will gobble up an even larger percentage of the budgets in coming years," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Given those numbers, it's clear that those who want serious deficit reduction have their work cut out for them in convincing the public, which seems adamantly opposed to cutting the programs with the largest budgets. "Moreover, although majorities favor increasing taxes on those who earn $250,000 or more, they are opposed to hiking them on the middle class, which would raise much, much more money since there are so many more people who are middle class." Within the 84 percent who think the middle class will have to sacrifice, 92 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of Democrats and 85 percent of independent voters feel that way. But on the question of raising taxes on the middle class, 83 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of independent voters and 75 percent of Democrats are opposed. The relative lack of a partisan gap also is evident in limiting the growth of Social Security and Medicare. On Social Security, 73 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independent voters are opposed. On Medicare, 75 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of independents are opposed. Women are generally more opposed to limiting either program than are men and those with more education and higher incomes are slightly more in favor of such restrictions on growth. Not surprisingly, 57 percent of Republicans want only spending cuts in a deficit reduction plan, compared to 54 percent of independents and 39 percent of Democrats. Conversely, 6 percent of Democrats, 3 percent of Republicans and 2 percent of independent favor the taxes only option. From March 16 - 21, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,907 registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points. The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the nation as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter. 48. Do you believe middle-class Americans will or will not have to make financial sacrifices to decrease the federal budget deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Will 84% 92% 78% 85% 95% 77% 92% Will not 11 6 16 11 5 18 5 DK/NA 5 2 6 4 - 5 4 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Will 84% 85% 81% 86% 85% 82% 88% 90% 82% Will not 13 9 17 10 8 12 10 9 15 DK/NA 3 6 2 5 7 6 2 1 4 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Will 84% 86% 94% 88% 92% 67% 88% 68% 80% Will not 11 11 4 8 7 32 9 19 18 DK/NA 5 3 2 4 2 1 3 13 2 49. Do you think - raising income taxes on households making more than $250,000 should or should not be a main part of any government approach to the deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Should 60% 42% 82% 55% 28% 83% 28% Should not 38 55 16 42 69 16 69 DK/NA 2 3 2 2 3 2 3 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Should 58% 61% 68% 55% 58% 64% 61% 51% 64% Should not 41 36 32 42 37 33 38 49 36 DK/NA 2 3 - 3 4 3 2 - - WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Should 60% 60% 52% 53% 55% 77% 58% 74% 60% Should not 38 38 44 43 44 23 40 23 37 DK/NA 3 1 4 4 1 - 2 3 3 50. Do you think - raising income taxes on households making more than 1 million dollars should or should not be a main part of any government approach to the deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Should 72% 56% 89% 69% 45% 90% 43% Should not 26 41 9 28 53 9 55 DK/NA 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Should 69% 74% 76% 70% 71% 76% 71% 71% 67% Should not 29 23 23 29 24 22 28 29 32 DK/NA 2 3 1 1 5 2 1 - 1 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Should 73% 69% 62% 64% 72% 73% 70% 79% 79% Should not 25 29 33 32 27 26 28 18 21 DK/NA 3 1 5 4 1 1 2 3 - 51. Do you think - raising income taxes on the middle-class should or should not be a main part of any government approach to the deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Should 17% 15% 22% 16% 9% 26% 8% Should not 80 83 75 81 89 71 91 DK/NA 3 2 3 3 1 3 1 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Should 21% 14% 22% 16% 15% 18% 17% 16% 26% Should not 77 82 76 81 81 79 81 82 70 DK/NA 2 4 2 3 4 3 2 2 4 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Should 16% 21% 9% 11% 17% 30% 15% 29% 22% Should not 81 76 87 85 82 64 82 65 78 DK/NA 3 3 3 4 1 6 3 6 1 52. Do you think - cutting the growth of spending on Social Security benefits should or should not be a main part of any government approach to the deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Should 19% 22% 13% 21% 28% 17% 21% Should not 77 73 84 75 69 80 77 DK/NA 4 5 3 4 2 3 2 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Should 26% 12% 20% 20% 15% 15% 20% 26% 40% Should not 71 83 76 75 81 82 77 71 57 DK/NA 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 3 3 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Should 14% 30% 20% 19% 14% 10% 18% 13% 23% Should not 81 66 73 74 83 88 77 85 76 DK/NA 4 4 7 6 3 2 5 2 2 53. Do you think - cutting the growth of spending on Medicare benefits should or should not be a main part of any government approach to the deficit? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Should 21% 22% 17% 23% 27% 19% 19% Should not 76 75 80 74 70 79 78 DK/NA 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Should 27% 15% 24% 22% 17% 19% 22% 24% 31% Should not 70 82 75 75 78 79 76 73 68 DK/NA 3 3 1 3 4 2 2 2 1 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Should 19% 27% 23% 21% 21% 15% 22% 17% 17% Should not 79 70 75 76 75 83 75 81 81 DK/NA 3 3 3 3 4 2 3 3 2 54. To reduce the federal budget deficit do you think there should be a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, or that only taxes should be raised, or only that spending should be cut? TEA PARTY.............. OPINION Q18. Tot Rep Dem Ind Fav UnFav MemberQ30 Combination 42% 35% 53% 39% 24% 65% 21% Only tax increases 4 3 6 2 1 6 - Only spending cuts 49 57 39 54 70 27 70 DK/NA 5 4 3 5 5 2 8 ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME. AGE IN YRS....... 50- 100- Men Wom 18-34 35-54 55+ <50k 100k 250k >250k Combination 43% 41% 42% 44% 40% 37% 49% 53% 60% Only tax increases 3 4 6 4 3 6 1 3 1 Only spending cuts 51 48 50 48 50 51 48 42 39 DK/NA 2 7 3 4 7 6 1 2 1 WHITE............. NoColl Coll BrnAgn Degree Degree Evngl Prot Cath Jew Wht Blk His Combination 37% 55% 33% 38% 44% 65% 43% 40% 33% Only tax increases 4 3 2 2 1 3 3 8 5 Only spending cuts 53 41 60 55 52 32 49 47 59 DK/NA 6 2 6 5 3 1 5 4 3 55. (If combination q54) Do you think that tax increases and spending cuts should be equal, or that there should be more spending cuts than tax increases, or that there should be more tax increases than spending cuts? COMBINATION Q54....................... Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Should be equal 29% 23% 31% 34% 27% 31% More spending cuts 52 66 43 51 53 51 More tax increases 12 7 16 10 16 8 DK/NA 7 4 10 6 5 9
