Polling Memo: Voters & the President’s Budget

April 25, 2013

Public Notice: The Numbers Behind Obama’s Budget

In February, prior to any budget roll out from President Obama or Congress, internal polling showed 61% of voters in battleground districts believing that “balancing our federal budget would significantly increase economic growth and create millions of American jobs.”1

On March 12, Chairman Paul Ryan released the House Republican budget proposal that would balance the budget in 10 years.

The following week, numbers supported this balanced approach as voters seemingly dubbed a balance budget common sense as 9 in 10 (85%) said government should be required to balance its budget like American families do at home.2

On April 3, two weeks after the GOP passed Chairman Ryan’s balanced budget, the White House admitted the President’s budget would not achieve balance. Ever.

On April 10, Obama confirmed this when he rolled out his unbalanced budget filled with $20 trillion of increased government spending and tax hikes.

Today, voters haven’t budged.  While Obama disregards this common sense mentality that you can’t spend more than you make, voters reiterate their belief in the strong correlation between a balanced budget and economic growth as 70% say a balanced budget would “help the nation’s economy.”  In fact, 7 in 10 (67%) oppose the President’s budget based on the fact that it “does not balance at any point.”3

When it comes to voters and Obama’s budget, it looks a lot like disappointment.

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1 POLLSTER: On Message Inc

  DATE: Conducted 2/19-21/2013

  SAMPLE: Sampled 1,200 LVs in 18 Battleground Districts; MoE ±3.0%

2 POLLSTER: Anderson Robbins Research (D) / Shaw & Company Research (R) for Fox News

  DATE: Conducted 3/17-19/2013

  SAMPLE: Sampled 1,002 Adults; MoE ±3.0%

  SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2013/03/20/fox-news-poll-voters-say-debt-is-immediate-problem/

 3 POLLSTER: The Tarrance Group for Public Notice

  DATE: Conducted 4/14-17/2013

  SAMPLE: Sampled 819 Registered LVs Nationwide; MoE ±3.5%

  SOURCE: http://thepublicnotice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Public-Notice-National-Key-Findings.pdf