Key Findings From A National Survey Of Voters

1
Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Key Findings From A National Survey Of Voters
Bill McInturff, Partner
Geoff Garin, President
Molly O'Rourke, Senior Vice President
Alex Bratty, Vice President
Rebecca Naser, Vice President
2
Methodology
On behalf of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation,
Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research
Associates are pleased to present the key
findings from a national survey of 700 registered
voters. The survey was conducted November
16-18, 2009 and has a margin of error of 3.7.
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Priorities for the President and Congress
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Voters perceive dealing with our growing budget
deficit and
national debt as a top priority for the President
and Congress. Of the ten issues
tested, it ranks second only to getting the
economy back on track.
The country faces a number of challenges right
now. For each of the following, please tell me
how much of a priority you think President Obama
and Congress should place on the issue. Should
the issue be an absolute top priority, a high but
not top priority, a medium priority, a lower
priority or do you think this should not be a
priority at all for the president?
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Roughly two-thirds of voters say our leaders in
Washington are not paying enough
attention to our federal budget problems. This
is up sharply from our February track.
Perceived Level of Attention on Federal Budget
Problems by Leaders in Washington
February 2009
November 2009
66
56
33
27
59 Strongly Not Enough
5
4
Total About Right
Total Too Much
Total Not Enough
Thinking about our federal budget problems,
including our growing federal budget deficit and
our increasing national debt, do you think our
leaders in Washington are paying too much
attention to these issues, not paying enough
attention to these issues or are they paying
about the right amount of attention to these
issues?
6
Roughly the same proportion say our leaders in
Washington are not paying enough attention to the
federal governments increasing dependence on
foreign countries such as China, Japan, and Saudi
Arabia that are financing our growing debt.
Perceived Level of Attention on Governments
Dependence on Foreign Countries by Leaders in
Washington
62
28
54 Strongly Not Enough
6
November 2009
Total Too Much
Total Not Enough
Total About Right
Do you think our leaders in Washington are
paying too much attention to this issue, not
paying enough attention to this issue or are
they paying about the right amount of attention
to this issue?
7
Older voters are more likely to think the
government is not paying
enough attention to federal budget problems and
our countrys increasing dependence on foreign
countries to finance our debt.
Perceived Level of Attention by Age
75
73
67
65
55
38
Federal budget problems
28
27
21
17
6
6
4
3
1
Age 18-34
Age 35-44
Age 45-54
Age 55-64
Age 65
(20)
(25)
(17)
(18)
(19)
66
65
63
60
58
Dependence on foreign countries
33
30
28
23
22
10
9
7
3
3
Age 18-34
Age 35-44
Age 45-54
Age 55-64
Age 65
(20)
(25)
(17)
(18)
(19)
Total Too Much
Total Not Enough
Total About Right
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Republicans and Independents clearly believe our
leaders in Washington are
not paying enough attention to our debt problems.
Democrats are more divided.
Perceived Level of Attention by Party
83
77
50
44
Federal budget problems
20
10
4
4
2
Republicans
Independents
Democrats
(40)
(12)
(46)
75
71
Dependence on foreign countries
47
39
24
17
9
5
4
Republicans
Independents
Democrats
(40)
(12)
(46)
Total Too Much
Total Not Enough
Total About Right
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Creating A Bi-Partisan Commission
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Creating A Bi-Partisan Commission
Voters heard the following description of a
bi-partisan commission and were asked if they
would favor or oppose creating it as a way of
reviewing and addressing our federal budget
problems.
The president and Congress would work together to
establish a bi-partisan Commission. This
Commission would be made up of an equal number of
Democratic and Republican Members of Congress,
senior level officials from the Obama
administration, several independent experts on
the federal budget, and would solicit opinion
from the American public online and in town hall
style meetings. The commission would consider
policy options on budget controls, reforms to
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other
spending and tax reforms. Unlike the regular
process that Congress currently uses to consider
legislative proposals, Congress would be required
to vote on the recommended package of reforms
from the Commission, with limited opportunity to
make changes.
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The bi-partisan commission garners solid majority
support from voters, including almost the same
level of support among Republicans, Independents,
and Democrats.
Would you favor or oppose creating this
bi-partisan commission as a way of reviewing and
addressing our federal budget problems?
12
Voters find a statement in support of the
bi-partisan commission compelling.
Total Convincing
Very Convincing
Our nation faces a crisis of debt, spending and
unfunded liabilities that threatens the long-term
health of our economy. Congress has consistently
been unable and unwilling to take the necessary
steps to get our nation's growing debts and
deficits back under control. In fact, we now have
over half a million dollars in unfunded
obligations for every household. This is why we
need a bipartisan commission to develop sensible
solutions, minimizing the interference of special
interests and partisan politics, before our
foreign lenders lose patience with us.
28
71
Convincing/Not Convincing By Party
72/26
IND
68/30
73/26
13
Voters are less impressed by a statement in
opposition to the bi-partisan commission.
Total Convincing
Very Convincing
Tackling our growing fiscal challenges is the job
of our elected representatives in Congress. Any
effort to create laws to reduce our growing debts
and deficits should be done using the normal
legislative process, and not through a commission
consisting of a small group of people. Also, the
primary purpose of this commission could end up
being used to provide political cover
for Congress to raise taxes and cut Social
Security without a complete and full
congressional debate.
20
43
Convincing/Not Convincing By Party
61/38
IND
47/53
53/44
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After hearing statements on both sides of the
debate, voters are still solidly behind the
bi-partisan commission.
Support for Bi-Partisan Commission
Before Hearing Statements
After Hearing Statements
45
29
70
63
34
25
32 Strongly Favor
20 Strongly Oppose
37 Strongly Favor
16 Strongly Oppose
Total Favor
Total Oppose
Would you favor or oppose creating this
bi-partisan commission as a way of reviewing and
addressing our federal budget problems?
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Non-Whites, younger voters, and Republicans are
among those whose support for the
commission are likely to drop after
hearing both statements.
Top Movers in Favor of Bi-Partisan Commission
Before And After Hearing Statements
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Summary
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Summary
Voters rank dealing with our growing deficit and
national debt as one of the absolute top
priorities for the President and Congress to deal
with. They do not think their leaders in
Washington are paying enough attention to our
federal budget problems. They offer broad and
solid support for creating a bi-partisan
commission as a way of dealing with these
problems. Even after hearing arguments for and
against it, almost two-thirds of voters continue
to support creating a bi-partisan commission.
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Bill McInturff, Partner (Bill_at_pos.org) Alex
Bratty, Vice President (Alex_at_pos.org)
Geoff Garin, President GGarin_at_hartresearch.org) M
olly ORourke, Senior Vice President
(MORourke_at_hartresearch.org) Rebecca Naser, Vice
President (RNaser_at_hartresearch.org)