American Voters
Majority of Voters Prefer Government Shutdown Over More Spending
A majority of likely voters in the U.S. said they would rather have the government shutdown than have Congress approve more expenditure, a new poll found.
According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, 56% of respondents prefer a partial government shutdown until Congress can reduce or maintain spending. Only 34% stated they would like to see higher expenditure levels in order to prevent a government shutdown.
In addition, 73 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independent respondents, compared to only 41 percent of Democrats, stated they would prefer a partial government shutdown until Congress can find a way to reduce or maintain spending. However, more Democrats (50%) want increased spending to prevent a government shutdown.
The House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), will soon need to strike a compromise with the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling. Conservative Republicans in the House, on the other hand, are adamant about cutting spending before increasing the ceiling.
When Democrats struggled over the debt ceiling four years ago under then-President Donald Trump, the same poll revealed that 54 percent preferred a shutdown, with only 31 percent preferring the alternative.
The study also revealed that the majority of people believe there is a spending problem, with 66 percent blaming “politicians’ unwillingness to reduce government spending” and 21 percent attributing the deficit’s magnitude mainly to taxpayers.
A majority of respondents, regardless of party affiliation, said that “politicians’ inability to curb government spending” was the cause of the deficit. This included 77 percent of Republicans, 52 percent of Democrats, and 71 percent of independent respondents.
Pulse Opinion Research, LLC conducted the survey on January 18, 19, and 22, polling 900 likely voters in the US on behalf of Rasmussen Reports. The margin of error for the poll was 3%, and its degree of confidence was 95%.
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