A new McClatchy-Marist Poll shows a clear majority of Americans wants policymakers to reach a bipartisan deal on debt reduction, and supports higher taxes on income above $250,000.
But after these basic truths, the consensus shifts in the other direction — Americans oppose letting all Bush-era rates expire, oppose ending the payroll tax break, oppose cutting social insurance programs for the elderly, and oppose raising the Medicare eligibility age. Indeed, perhaps the most striking result is the fact that self-identified Republicans oppose debt-reduction measures — including spending cuts.
It’s pretty clear that GOP voters don’t live in the same neighborhood as reality. They seem to believe that they really can have their cake and eat it too. Years of teaching them that they can believe whatever the hell they want to believe, facts be damned, have finally paid off. They now expect the impossible: debt reduction without raising taxes or cutting spending. Good luck with that, guys.
And if you need one more reason why Republicans continue to refuse to name specific cuts, there you go. There’s literally nothing they can propose that their own voters will support. “There’s opposition to everything…” says Marist’s polling director Lee M. Miringoff. “If you’re a Republican in Congress looking for what Republican voters are telling you, they’re not telling you much.”
