Ed Morrissey at Hot Air does a breakdown on the findings, which show a majority want a balanced approached of revenue and spending cuts, 65 percent of them say this.
Take a look at the bullets here:
• 65% think we need a combination of revenue and spending cuts
• 4% believe that we can fix the problem with tax hikes alone
• 29% think we can fix it with spending cuts alone
• 47% think we need to cut more spending than raise taxes
• 10% think we need more tax hikes than spending cuts
Top number, 65 percent, an overwhelming majority, want balance.
25 percent more think spending cuts alone can fix the problem than those that feel that tax hikes alone can fix the problem.
37 percent more believe that more spending cuts than tax hikes than those that believe the opposite is true.
Everyone seems to agree balance is needed, spending is a problem and is more of a problem than revenue.
Until.....
Seems clear until you get to specific spending cuts where every option given is opposed by the majority.
They see the problem, they acknowledge the problem, but the oppose the very fix they say is needed.
To top it off, the big fiscal cliff battle between Obama and Republicans is because Obama wants more tax increase revenue than spending cuts and he wants more new spending, and Republicans want an equal amount of spending cuts to any tax revenue and new spending.
No one disputes that Republicans want spending cuts and Obama has been pitching tax increases.
Obama's latest offer is when you don't count "savings" that really aren't savings, is $1.3 trillion in revenue for only $930 billion in spending cuts and an additional $80 billion in new spending with $50 billion of that in new infrastructure spending and $30 billion of it for extending unemployment benefits
Using numbers in the bullets above from the Washington Post/ABC News survey, the respondents overwhelmingly side with Republicans, right? RIGHT?
Wrong.
Should the talks break down, 47 percent say they would blame Republicans; 31 percent say they are more likely to point the finger at Obama. Some 18 percent, a growing number, volunteer that they would hold both sides equally culpable.
There should be some sort of qualifying test before someone can be polled. Like maybe if you can answer "what is 2+2" and only the people that say 4 qualify, and anyone that answers incorrectly is automatically disqualified, maybe, just maybe, the answers to different questions would have some sort of consistency.