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POLITICS

Voters Unhappy With Both Ryan and Murray Budget Plans

Senate Democrats and House Republicans last week introduced widely different plans for reducing the federal budget deficit over the next 10 years. Neither one excites voters very much, although they’re slightly less negative about the GOP plan that calls for spending cuts only.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 35% of Likely U.S. Voters favor the Republican plan proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan. Half (49%) of all voters oppose the Republican plan, but another 16% are not sure. It was described as a plan to balance the budget in 10 years without raising taxes but cutting spending by nearly $5 trillion in areas including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security but not defense.

However, only 19% favor the Democrats' option proposed by Senator Patty Murray. Sixty percent (60%) of voters oppose the Democratic plan. Twenty-one percent (21%) are not sure. It was described as a plan to reduce the deficit by cutting spending a trillion dollars and raising taxes a trillion dollars over the next 10 years that also includes $100 billion in new stimulus spending and does not balance the budget. 

It’s important to note that the questions did not mention the political party or individual that proposed each plan. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on March 14-15, 2013 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.

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