Toplines: Federal Budget

Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters

July 7, 2008

1* If the federal budget was balanced, would that be good for the economy, bad for the economy or have no impact on the economy?

70% Good

7% Bad

13% No impact

10% Not sure

2* Is it possible for the federal government to eliminate large amounts of wasteful spending without harming important government programs?

69% Yes

15% No

17% Not sure

3* Suppose a President vetoed all wasteful spending approved by Congress and there was still a budget deficit. To balance the budget, would you rather cut government programs or increase taxes?

53% Cut government program

31% Increase taxes

16% Not sure

4* If troops are brought home from Iraq, should the financial savings be used to help balance the budget or should those savings be spent on other government programs?

67% Help balance the budget

19% On other government programs

14% Not sure

5* John McCain has promised to balance the budget during his first term in office. If he is elected, how likely is it that he will balance the federal budget.

5% Very likely

28% Somewhat likely

41% Not very likely

23% Not at all likely

4% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence