As recent polls have indicated, Americans have spoken and want less government spending.
The American people want government spending cut.
At America’s New Majority Project, we have the views of more than 100,000 people in a database going back to 2018. We have original polling and focus group results. We also track other polls on public policy.
Americans’ desires are abundantly clear in the data.
When asked if they want to cut spending to balance the budget and reduce inflation, 78 percent say “yes,” and only 11 percent disagree.
When asked if there should be a work requirement for able-bodied people getting federal aid, 75 percent say “yes.” Only 14 percent oppose work requirements.
More than two-in-three Americans want to cut federal spending (69 percent – including 86 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of independents, and 53 percent of Democrats).
In fact, even if it takes a temporary shutdown, 57 percent want to reduce spending rather than have continued increases (77 percent of Republicans, 57 percent of independents, and 39 percent of Democrats).
All too many U.S. Senate Republicans don’t understand any of this. They want spending as usual and to avoid conflict with President Joe Biden and their Democrat colleagues.
However, when Americans are asked if they would prefer a Republican who wants to cut spending – even if it leads to a shutdown – or a Democrat who wants to increase spending and avoid a shutdown, they favor the Republican candidate by 51 percent to 34 percent. This is a 4 percent increase for Republicans over their current generic ballot (47 percent among likely voters) but a 7 percent drop for Democrats (from 42 percent). Republicans particularly gain among independents (plus 13 percent) and Asian Americans (plus 12 percent).
This desire to balance the budget validates the hard work of House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington and his Republican colleagues. They wrote the Balanced Budget bill and reported it out last week.
