MSNBC is reporting the results of a NBC/WSJ poll that Americans are "adamantly opposed" to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and k-12 education.
The survey of 1,000 adults (200 reached by cell phone) — which was conducted Feb. 24-28 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points — also listed 26 ways to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The most popular: placing a surtax on federal income taxes for those who make more than $1 million per year (81 percent said that was acceptable), eliminating spending on earmarks (78 percent), eliminating funding for weapons systems that the Defense Department says aren't necessary (76 percent), and eliminating tax credits for the oil and gas industries (74 percent).
The least popular: cutting funding for Medicaid, the federal-government health care program for the poor (32 percent said that was acceptable); cutting funding for Medicare, the federal-government health care program for seniors (23 percent); cutting funding for k-12 education (22 percent); and cutting funding for Social Security (22 percent).
Those numbers, GOP pollster McInturff says, "serve as a huge flashing yellow sign to Republicans … if they are going to start to talk about changes to Medicare and Social Security.”
What the people want doesn't seem to matter much to politicians on either side of the aisle, so we're not sure these poll results will make a difference in what the GOP plans to cut. It's so sad that other Western nations understand that a country is only as strong as its weakest members, so you have to take care of your poor, and the United States does not.
Perhaps we'll understand when we start resembling a so-called Third World country, which will be in sync with our speedy decline as a superpower. Having said that, if the spending cuts keep targeting basic services that people need and should have, it might actually make a difference during the election, which is a poll that really matters.
Read more at MSNBC.
In other news: The Root Recommends: CNN's 'Race & Rage.'