Overall the survey finds that 70 percent of those surveyed think that the federal budget deficit is a major problem that must be dealt with, and two-thirds say that both tax increases and spending cuts are necessary. Surprisingly, more than half of Tea Party supporters surveyed supported taxes as well as spending cuts.
But when asked about the president’s deficit commission proposals, among those who had even heard of it, 48 percent disapproved and only 30 percent approved. Least popular among commission recommendations were taxes on health benefits and a national gasoline tax. The most popular ideas were lifting the cap on income subjected to Social Security taxes and freezing the salaries of government workers.
Obama has proposed and the House has passed a two-year pay freeze for civilian workers. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed approved of the pay freeze.
Those surveyed are largely pessimistic that the budget deficit will actually be dealt with in the next five years. Only 37 percent thought so, while 52 percent said that they thought it would be dealt with.
The survey has a 3 percentage points plus or minus sampling error.