Ryan Streeter
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This CNN poll shows that Americans really aren't changing their views about deficit reduction to support the kinds of reforms our country mathematically needs.
63 percent say the super committee should call for increased taxes on higher-income Americans and businesses...By a 57 to 40 percent margin they say the committee's deficit reduction proposal should include major cuts in domestic spending...Nearly two-thirds say no to major changes to Social Security and Medicare. And nearly nine in ten don't want any increase in taxes on middle class and lower income Americans.
Americans are pretty evenly split on whether to cut defense.
So our biggest margins would have us: raise taxes on the rich, cut discretionary spending (which accounts for just about a third of all spending), leave entitlements alone, and don't raise middle class taxes (though that's exactly what will happen when you leave entitlements alone).
What this means is: Americans don't understand the deficit enough to tell Washington what to do. Which is why elected leaders need to...lead. Which means they need to say things that make people uneasy.
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