President Barack Obama laid out three major – and costly - policy goals in his Tuesday night speech to the nation – health care reform, development of new sources of energy and ensuring that every child has “a complete and competitive education.” He also repeated his pledge to cut the federal deficit in half in four years.

Americans say cutting the deficit in half is the more important of those goals and also the least likely to be achieved, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Forty-two percent (42%) say cutting the deficit is the top priority while 24% name health care. For 17%, developing new sources of energy is the priority, with the president’s educational initiative the top choice for 10%.

But 54% say deficit reduction is the goal least likely to be achieved with health care reform a distant second. Just 16% say Obama’s plan to expand health coverage to as many Americans as possible is the least likely to be realized.

Looked at from the other perspective, 26% name the development of new energy sources as the goal most likely to be achieved. Twenty-one percent (21%) put health care reform at the top of the list.

As a result of the Tuesday night speech, Obama appears to have gotten a slight bounce in terms of voter approval in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it's in the news, it's in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates also available on Twitter.

Overall, 58% of Americans name the president’s energy objective as Very Important. Earlier surveys have found that Americans overwhelmingly believe finding new sources of energy is more important than energy conservation.

Fifty-six percent (56%) say the president’s education goal is Very Important, and 54% say the same about health care.

Most Republicans pick deficit reduction as the more important goal. So do a plurality of those not affiliated with either major party. Democrats are more evenly divided with 33% naming deficit reduction and 32% citing health care as more important.

The belief that deficit reduction is least likely to be achieved is shared across party lines. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Republicans hold that view along with 46% of Democrats and 51% of unaffiliateds.

In a separate survey this week, a majority of voters said Obama is unlikely to achieve his pledge to cut the federal deficit in half within four years.
Obama’s plans for reducing the deficit include a tax increase on those earning more than $250,000 per year, and most voters think that’s a good idea.

Seventy percent (70%) of Americans say they watched Obama’s Tuesday night speech or read news stories about it, while 28% did not.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.