42% See Need for Big Cuts in Defense, Entitlements to Reduce Deficit, 31% Don’t
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Voters still tend to think defense spending and entitlement programs need to go on the chopping block to reduce the record federal deficit, but they’re not overly confident that President Obama and Congress will reach a long-term agreement to make those cuts.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters believe it is necessary to significantly reduce the cost of entitlement programs and military spending to reduce the long-term federal deficit. But 31% disagree and don’t see a need for major cuts in these areas. Nearly as many (27%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 12-13, 2012 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.