Public Views On Spending Mostly Liberal With One Very Odd Finding

There’s already been a lot of talk about yesterday’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which showed a majority of Americans took quite liberal positions on government spending. Large majorities opposed cutting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and K-12 education, with smaller numbers opposing cuts in other areas. A majority of voters supported measures to cut the deficit including ending the Bush tax cuts, ending earmarks, and increasing taxes on millionaires.

None of this was terribly surprising, but I found one bizarre result. Here’s something which one would think should receive one hundred percent support: eliminating funding for weapons systems which the Pentagon says are not necessary. Seventeen percent opposed this and five percent were unsure. I imagine this represents  a coalition of people who make money selling the Pentagon weapons systems which are not necessary and people who do not understand the meaning of “not necessary.”

2 Comments

  1. 1
    Rick Supplee says:

    Indeed, we desperately need major cuts in our weapons systems.  All one need do is observe the overwhelming defeat of Iraq and the Taliban to think maybe the US is overspending on defense.  I would say we should cut our defense power in half and that we would still be way ahead of everybody else.

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    Note that the question here is cutting weapons systems which are not necessary. I could see there being disagreement on a general question regarding cutting defense spending. It makes no sense to object to cutting weapons which are not necessary.

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