The Hill:
Instead of shining the spotlight on the programs slashed and the people affected, Democrats have let the debate revolve around the cumulative size of the cuts, the critics charge. That attention to an arbitrary figure — and not the underlying programs on the chopping block — has spun the debate into a fight over numbers that lacks a human element.
Democrats simply refuse to acknowledge that the "message" the public hears loud and clear is that Washington spends more money than the U.S. has.
Recently polling, from multiple organizations show American voters understand the problem and overwhelmingly want spending cuts over taxes.
Polling examples
Reuters/Ipsos Survey- 59 percent of Americans prefer to cut existing programs while 30 percent would rather raise taxes to reduce deficit spending.
Bloomberg News National Poll- 53 percent believe federal government should cut spending and lower taxes on individuals and corporations.
In January, CBS provided a poll that clearly shows the challenges our Representatives in Washington face as the majority wants spending cuts, but are not sure what should be cut.
News poll finds that Americans strongly prefer cutting spending to raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit. While 77 percent prefer to cut spending, just nine percent call for raising taxes. Another nine percent want to do both.
Yet most Americans could not volunteer a program they'd be willing to see cut in order to reduce the deficit - only 38 percent could name a program they would support cutting.......
Democratic politicians wanting to raise taxes and ignore the out of control spending want to take advantage of the public's inability to specifically name what needs to be cut by playing to their sympathies and ignoring the basic fact that it is an overwhelming majority that wants government to stop spending money they don't have and stop borrowing more money to spend.
“The challenge for House Democrats is to make the case that programs that are popular and important are being harmed by a bunch of budget-cutting that is reckless,” said former Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), now with the lobbying firm of Alston & Bird.
Democrats aren't even trying to hide the fact that they want to distract the public from the deficit and the spending.
They don't have a messaging problem. The problem is their message itself. Their agenda is not the agenda the American people have.
Here is the message Democrats need to understand.
Any questions Democrats?
.