19% Say Hardly Anybody Believes More Government Spending Is Good for the Economy

The Obama administration has acted on the belief that increased government spending is good for the economy, and a solid plurality of voters recognize that this view is not widely shared by the American people.

In fact, 47% of Likely U.S. Voters recognize that it’s mostly liberals who believe that more government spending will help the economy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 14% of voters mistakenly believe that most Americans agree more government spending is an economic booster, while 19% say hardly anybody believes that to be true. Seven percent (7%) say the position is held mostly by conservatives. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Those perceptions are found at a time when just 29% of voters believe hiking government spending is good for the economy. 

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republicans and 53% of voters not affiliated with either of the major parties understand that the idea of more government spending helping the economy is shared mostly by liberals. But just 31% of Democrats agree.

Twenty percent (20%) of Democrats, in fact, say most Americans believe in more government spending as a economic cure, a view shared by just seven percent (7%) of GOP voters and 13% of unaffiliateds.

Ideological moderates (23%) feel more strongly than conservatives (17%) and liberals (15%) that hardly anybody believes that policy position.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on March 18-19, 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.