54% Favor Middle Class Tax Cuts Over New Health Care Spending
Rasmussen Reports ^ | August 5, 2009
Posted on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 12:59:41 PM by reaganaut1
Fifty-four percent (54%) of U.S. voters say tax cuts for the middle class are more important than new spending for health care reform, even as President Obama’s top economic advisers signal that tax hikes may be necessary.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken Monday and Tuesday nights, finds that 34% disagree and say new spending for health care reform is more important. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.
It is important to note that this question asked about new government spending for health care reform rather than about the overall concept of health care reform itself.
The partisan and ideological divide on the question is sizable. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Democrats say new spending for health care reform is the priority. But 80% of Republicans and 62% of voters not affiliated with either party favor tax cuts for the middle class.
Seventy percent (70%) of liberals say new spending is more important, while 76% of conservatives prefer tax cuts.
Recent polling shows that 48% of voters now rate the U.S. health care system as good or excellent. That figure has increased significantly since the Congressional debate on health care began.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of all voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that taxes will have to be raised on the middle class to cover the cost of health care reform. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say it is very likely.
Just 18% say middle class tax hikes are not likely, with 14% who say they’re not very likely and four percent (4%) who think they are not at all likely.
These numbers are largely unchanged from a survey in mid-July. But on Sunday Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, both refused to rule out the possibility of middle-class tax increases ...
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
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