75% Blame State Budget Problems on Politicians’ Unwillingness to Cut Spending
Rasmussen Reports
Thursday, July 08, 2010

Most Americans report their state currently has a budget crisis, and they continue to blame politicians more than taxpayers for the problem.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adults shows 75% say the unwillingness of politicians to reduce government spending is more to blame for current state budget crises than the unwillingness of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.

Only 13% take the opposing view and blame taxpayers’ unwillingness to pay more to the government. Another 12% are undecided.

Americans have expressed this level of skepticism toward their elected officials for some time now. In February, 83% blamed the federal budget deficit on politicians’ unwillingness to cut spending. In May of last year, 77% said politicians’ unwillingness to cut spending is the bigger problem in America today.

The majority of adults of all political affiliations blame politicians’ lack of spending cuts for state budget problems. But Democrats are slightly more inclined to criticize taxpayers for their unwillingness to pay more. 

One-in-three government employees (33%) say taxpayers are to blame more than politicians.

Recent job reports show that government hiring is up, while layoffs are more common than hirings in the private sector. Many Americans believe government workers make more money than their counterparts in the private sector, and they don’t like the idea of the government hiring more workers.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 5-6, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC

Eighty percent (80%) of voters say the states they live in are currently experiencing budget crises.

Most Americans are not willing to pay higher taxes for specific public services in their states. However, they are more supportive of higher taxes for education and law enforcement than for entitlement programs for low-income Americans and to avoid layoffs of state employees.

Consistent polling shows that Likely Voters nationwide prefer a government that provides fewer services but imposes lower taxes to one with more services and higher taxes.

Most U.S. voters (52%) continue to believe that tax increases will hurt the economy, while just 22% think tax increases are good for the economy.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of adults nationwide say they’ve been closely following news stories about current state budget problems, while only 18% say they have not. Most voters oppose a federal bailout of troubled states.

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