68% Prefer A Government With Fewer Services, Lower Taxes

House Republicans are proposing to follow their repeal of the national health care bill with billions in spending cuts,  and most voters continue to favor a government that offers fewer services and lower taxes. 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of Likely Voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes rather than a more active one with more services and higher taxes.  This is virtually identical to last month and consistent with findings since September. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Since Rasmussen Reports began polling on the question in November 2006, support for a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes has ranged from a low of 55% in July 2007 to a high of 70% in August 2009.

Twenty-two percent (22%) of voters say they prefer a government with more services and higher taxes, down three points from December. Support for a more activist government over the past four years has ranged from 19% in August 2009 to 32% in late July 2007.

Even a plurality of Democrats (47%) now favors a government with fewer services and lower taxes.  But that finding is dwarfed by the 90% of Republicans and 67% of voters not affiliated with either political party who feel that way.

While the Tea Party may be lighting a fire under congressional Republicans to cut the size of government, voters still expect government spending, taxes and the deficit to go up over the next two years.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on January 17-18, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.