Throughout his presidency — and especially over the last year — Barack Obama has turned toward a bigger federal government as the answer for fixing the U.S. economy. According to a new poll, though, that’s the last thing Americans want. Rather, they want to see the government cut deficits, spending, and taxes. Rasmussen reports:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters worry more that the federal government will do too much rather than not enough in reacting to the nation’s economic problems.
Those figures reflect quite a change from the immediate aftermath of the financial industry meltdown in September 2008. At that time, 63% of voters worried more that the government would do too much. In recent months, a plurality has expressed a fear that the government will do too little in response to the economic troubles gripping the nation. Earlier this month, for the first time ever, the number worried that the government would do too little reached 50%, a level matched in the most recent survey.
As a result of the growing concern that the government will not do enough, Rasmussen Reports explored the type of action that voters were looking for the government to take. Among all voters, 77% want the government to cut deficits, 71% think the government should cut spending, and 59% want the government to cut taxes. This is consistent with long held voter views that cutting spending and taxes is good for the economy.
Though President Obama has of late attempted to adopt the deficit hawk, pro-tax-cut mantle, in truth the policies he has adopted for the past three years — and those that he proposes in the future — have resulted in bigger deficits, more spending, and calls for higher taxes. The American people, though, have grasped a truth that has escaped the President’s understanding: The federal government is doing too much, spending too much, and taxing too much, and the economy is suffering for it. And the chart below shows how rapidly rising deficits have driven America’s debt limit higher and higher.
