This week’s Republican Panel, our survey of grassroots conservatives, sheds some interesting light on how conservative voters are thinking about the deficit and spending cuts as we anticipate the GOP budget next week.
Grassroots conservatives care more about cutting the deficit than anything else right now. When we asked respondents what they were most looking for in the GOP candidate for President in 2012, they answered an individual able to make the tough choices to fix our deficit.
Fixing the deficit matters more than the ability to cut spending or to get the economy back on track (see graphic far below).
And what do they think is the most important thing Washington needs to do to fix the deficit? Answer: Cut spending across.
Fixing entitlements hardly registered as a solution to the deficit…although it registered a bit higher than the last time we asked the question.
We asked identical questions this week to those we asked in January about what Congress should do to address the deficit. Here is a comparison:
Conservatives are less willing to cut from the military, perhaps because of the activity in Libya. More prefer a balanced budget amendment. And, those thinking we should fix entitlements has doubled – from 3% to 6%.
This suggests, perhaps, that the message about entitlements’ relationship to the deficit has been more widely understood. But, in the end, it’s clear that people still think that we can fix the deficit mainly by cutting spending.
Here is what grassroots conservatives think are the most important qualities for the GOP candidate in 2012:
- 40% - Ability to make the tough choices needed to fix the deficit:
- 27% - Ability to get the economy back on track
- 25% - Ability to cut spending in Washington
- 5% - Ability to deal with immigration problems
- 1.5% - Ability to succeed on social issues
- 1% - Ability to bring gas prices down
- 1% - Ability to manage military engagements overseas
This week, ConservativeHome polled 567 conservatives identified by YouGov for our Republican Panel.
