These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Most Voters Believe that Democrats in Congress Want to Raise Taxes, Increase Government Spending
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Heading into the final two months of the mid-term election campaign, most voters believe that Democrats in Congress want to raise taxes and spending while Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes and spending.
At the same time, most voters believe that reducing taxes and spending would be good for the economy.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% of Likely Voters believe Congressional Democrats want to increase government spending. Only 16% believe the party wants to cut spending.
On the tax front, 59% believe that most Democrats in Congress want to increase taxes. Only 17% hold the opposite view.
As for Republicans, 51% say that most Republicans want to cut government spending and 50% say they want to cut taxes. Twenty-seven percent (27%) believe GOP legislators want to increase spending and 25% believe they want to increase taxes.
Sixty percent (60%) believe that tax cuts are good for the economy while 56% say tax hikes will hurt the economy.
Fifty-six percent (56%) believe that additional government spending will hurt the economy and 50% believe that spending cuts will help. See survey questions and toplines and crosstabs .
The economy is consistently ranked as the most important issue of Election 2010 . Currently, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on the issue. That's a big reason that the Republicans lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot . Many analysts, including Larry Sabato, are forecasting large gains for the GOP in November .
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 31-September 1, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95%level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly believe that Democrats in Congress want to raise taxes and increase spending. Democratic voters are more evenly divided. Platinum Members can review full demographic crosstabs .
Data released earlier highlighted the wide divide between Mainstream voters and the Political Class on spending, taxes, and deficits.
Forty-five percent (45%) expect their own personal taxes to go up during the Obama Administration. Only 9% expect their taxes to go down. As noted in a November 2008 editorial, Obama won the White House by campaigning like Ronald Reagan and promising tax cuts for 95% of Americans. The disconnect between those promises and current perceptions is adding to the Democratic woes this election season. See Crosstabs .
A new book by Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen addresses the broader discontent roiling the political landscape this year. MAD AS HELL: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System, published by Harper-Collins, will be released September 14. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com , Barnes and Noble , Borders , and other outlets .