Posted on 04/21/2011 7:44:38 PM PDT by neverdem
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
Despite Obama administration warnings that failing to do so would devastate the economy, a clear majority of Americans say they oppose raising the debt limit, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows.
Just 27 percent of Americans support raising the debt limit, while 63 percent oppose raising it.
Eighty-three percent of Republicans oppose raising the limit, along with 64 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats. Support for raising the debt limit is just 36 percent among Democrats, and only 14 percent among Republicans.
Seven in ten who oppose raising the debt limit stand by that position even if it means that interest rates will go up.
Poll: Approval ratings for Obama, Congress dip
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has notified Congress that they will need to raise the debt limit from the current $14.3 trillion level in mid-May to early July for the United States to meet its current fiscal obligations.
Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are demanding spending cuts in exchange for their votes to raise the debt ceiling. They seized on the recent Standard & Poor's warning that it could eventually lower its rating on U.S. debt "a wake-up call to those in Washington asking Congress to blindly increase the debt limit," in the words of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
If the debt limit is not raised, the United States will default on its bonds for the first time in history. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has suggested not raising it would be "a catastrophic folly."
Poll: One in four Americans think Obama was not born in U.S.
Mr. Obama actually voted against raising the debt limit when he was a senator, a decision the White House says he now regrets. In past years, Congress has regularly voted to increase the debt limit - though voting to do so has usually fallen to the party in power.
In addition to potentially increasing interest rates, a failure to raise the debt limit could delay for Social Security and Medicare checks ties to the government's inability to make payments to agencies. It would also mean the shutdown of much of the government.
While Republicans leaders are reportedly acknowledging behind closed doors that they will not let the United States fall into default, they are considering demanding everything from a balanced budget amendment to statutory spending caps to a 2/3rds voting requirement to increase taxes.
Even if the budget proposal passed by House Republicans were to become law, Congress would still need to raise the debt limit, since the Ryan plan steadily increases the debt over the next decade. Only a budget that eliminates - not reduces - the yearly budget deficit would halt the increase in the debt.
Poll: Most Americans say Medicare is worth the cost
Poll: GOP's 2012 contenders unknown, unloved
PDF: Read the complete poll results
The larger the sample size, the lower the confidence interval (it says +/- 4 percentage points, for Republicans). Also, if you wanted to look at subgroups of Republicans, (young/old; male/female; etc.) you’d want a larger sample size. Somebody was willing to pay extra, to know more about Republicans.
They are going to have to raise it.
At the moment there is no choice.
This has to be the LAST time it is ever raised though.
Thanks neverdem. Most Americans also oppose Obamacare.
Quite frankly, I could care less what most Americans want or do not want. Most Americans are mindless automatons that are focused on the latest reality show or crime drama. They don’t display any real sense of sophisticated thought that is required when evaluating political decisions. That’s one reason why so many may say they oppose the debt while at the same time are vehement in their opposition to even tweaking Medicare or Social Security. We have impotent leadership in Washington because that is a reflection of the nation’s sentiment.
If they raise it this time, they wil raise it again, and again, and again. Until total collapse occurs.
ehehehe...just goes to show that when the numbers get this big, most people are even more ignorant about econ 101 than they normally are...
Yep, just like that last bet, or that last drink, or that last hit of crack. Just one more last time and we will go into rehab.... and be OK......
Thanks for the humor:)
The MSM is going to hang the raising of the debt ceiling on Republicans. That is going to be the 2012 battlecry of the RATS.
By oversampling Republicans, they got a majority that do not want to raise the debt ceiling. Once it is raised, Republicans will be blamed for not listening to the people.
What happens if you don’t smoke that last hit of crack but still owe for it?
Forget my last post i understand what you are saying.
Politically that is called lose-lose.
We dont have to worry about that case. We are smoking about 10 rocks of crack a day and now saying they should cut that to zero all at once(but not seriously). They call that going into a coma.
This is insanity, raise the debt limit?
We are already in debt up to our children’s
children’s neck.
I live on a fixed income, while it might be comforting
to raise my debt limit it means nothing.
We have spent ourselves into a hole that if we keep
spending will destroy our society.
It’s time to STOP NOW.
Stop the SPENDING!!!
Get the government OUT of business!
For ONCE the republicans must draw the line,
it they will not, then they too must go.
This poll could be 90% against and they'd still raise it "for our own good." It's interesting the piece admits Ryan's plan, which Obama describes as "radical," does not actually stop deficit spending.
We're all clearly a bunch of pikers, too stupid to know what to do with something as complicated as spending money we don't have. The ruling class will thanks us for our votes and give us a pat on the head.
What happens if you tell your credit card company you will only pay for 100 dollars after you spent 150?
Your card gets shut off.
You have been paying your electricity, heat, food, car insurance with that card.
Now what are you going to do?
This LAST time it HAS to be raised.
The next time(s) it's GOT to be progressively lowered.
Exactly right. If you look into Ryan's plan it is smoke and mirrors. The so called cuts are back loaded and mean absolutely nothing. I am surprised at how many Freepers think this is "a good start." A good start???? You have to be kidding. We need something radically bold. You can't turn towards Liberty in incremental steps and expect to stay the course. It just will not happen.
Ryan's plan is a non-starter. The interest on the debt is eating away at our Republic. Our so called leaders have failed us and will continue to fail us. All those who vote to increase the debt limit need to be primaried out in 2012. Keep flushing these parasites until we get bold leaders.
I just don't see a good end to all this. I just wish I knew when and how bad things will get.
Interesting poll. I don’t think those polled realize it, but failing to raise the ceiling is about one inch shy of outright debt repudiation. Which would of course be a very good thing in my view.
“They are going to have to raise it. At the moment there is no choice. This has to be the LAST time it is ever raised though.”
Why? This reminds me of the pledge of hardcore alcoholics everywhere: this will really be my last drink. Really it will. I won’t touch another drop. Trust me.
Not raising the debt ceiling is really just a subtle form of debt repudiation. I prefer outright repudiation, but this works for now.
“What happens if you tell your credit card company you will only pay for 100 dollars after you spent 150? Your card gets shut off.”
Exactly. And that’s why the debt ceiling needs to not be increased and why in the longer term the national debt needs to be repudiated. You see, the politicians will continue to spend and spend and spend until their credit line is pulled. Until that point all this talk of austerity and balanced budgets is useless.
And yet polls show people oppose Medicare and other entitlement cuts and that people believe the deficit can be solved by a tax on “the rich.” Just more evidence that the average American has no idea how bad our spendign problem is or what will be needed to solve it.
The solution is either cut entitlement spending—including Medicare—or raise taxes significantly on the middle class. There is no easy solution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.