Most Americans back the budget deal, but few see a political winner in the outcome

Natalie Gonnella

As Congress prepares to vote on last week's budget compromise, Gallup polling reveals that most voters are in favor of the agreement.

Overall, six in ten Americans approve of the bipartisan funding bill, with 71% of Democrats,  60% of Independents and 58% of Republicans in support of the proposal. However, more than half of respondents noted that "the long-negotiated compromise was not a victory for either side...[with] Republicans more likely than Democrats to believe their own party was victorious -- 16% vs. 6% -- [but], the majority of both groups believe neither side won."

As Congress prepares to take on the 2012 budget debate, Gallup also found that when it comes to recent proposals, unsurprisingly, there is strong partisan divide among voters:

• "Republicans and Democrats largely support their own party's approach and oppose the alternative option, foreshadowing the difficulty party leaders in Washington will have in reaching consensus. Most Democrats and the majority of independents favor higher taxes on households earning above $250,000, while the majority of Republicans oppose this."
• "More than 6 in 10 Republicans favor further cutting domestic programs. About the same proportion of Democrats oppose this, as do nearly half of independents."
• "Support for revamping Medicare is essentially no higher among Republicans than among Democrats, 34% vs. 30%, and Republicans are actually the more likely of the two groups to favor not controlling Medicare costs (33% vs. 21%)."
• "With a divided Congress, the challenge will be, once again, to strike a compromise between Democrats' calls for higher taxes on the wealthy and Republicans' calls for deeper domestic spending cuts. At this stage, the Democrats' position seems to have the greater public appeal."

The full results of Gallup's recent survey can be viewed here.