Ryan Streeter
This week’s Republican Panel, a poll* of grassroots conservatives across America, delivers a clear, concise message to Republicans:
- You’re doing a pretty good job showing leadership on spending cuts
- But we want you to go even deeper on cuts than you’re proposing
- And, by the way, you’re doing a bad job of explaining what your plan for job growth is
On the last point, House Republicans have been trying to communicate that spending cuts will result in job growth. That clearly hasn’t been getting through. At a basic level Americans understand that we need more than just cuts and reductions in spending to create a growth environment. Surely cuts are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition – to borrow from the philosopher’s lexicon.
49% believe congressional Republicans have done a good job over the past few weeks in their efforts to cut spending, compared to 36% who disagree. See Chart 1 below.
46% believe that Republicans should shoot for more than $100 billion in cuts, compared to 31% who say can live with $100 billion.
20% say they want to see more than $100 billion in cuts, plus cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Speaking of entitlements, this brings us to two other interesting findings.
65% of respondents say that Republicans should introduce reforms to Medicare and Social Security in Congress this year, compared to 24% who say it’s better to wait until 2012 in hopes that a Republican is in the White House. 5% say not to touch the two entitlement programs altogether.
66%, however, said that when it comes to what Republicans should focus on now, spending cuts should be the top priority, compared to 14% who say they should talk a little less about spending and more about entitlement reform. Another 10% say they should focus more on repealing ObamaCare than on spending cuts.
But when it comes to jobs, Republicans need to explain more clearly what they’re plan is (if they have one):
69% of respondents say Republicans are not doing a good job explaining their plans for job creation and economic growth, compared to 21% who say they are doing a good job on this front. See Chart 2 below.
Chart 1: Do you think congressional Republicans have done a good job over the past few weeks in their efforts to cut spending?
Chart 2: Do you think congressional Republicans have done a good job explaining their plans for job creation and economic growth?
* This week's Republican Panel is based on 740 responses from the overall panel of 2,000+ individuals, assembled for ConservativeHome.com by YouGov.
