Americans’ Message To New Congress: Less Gov’t, Please

By SEAN HIGGINS, INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY

A new IBD/TIPP poll on public attitudes suggests that Tuesday’s event was less an election than an intervention: Stop what you are doing; you’re hurting us all.

A majority of the public wants Washington to stop the spending that has exploded the budget deficit. In a listing of top priorities for Congress, cutting the deficit by cutting spending came in No. 1, cited by 53%. (Fully 73%, including a majority of Democrats, said this is a “high priority.”)

“As reflected by the outcome of the midterm elections, the public is sending a clear message to Washington: They want the government to live within its means,” said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducted the poll.

Rounding out the top five on the public’s list, pluralities also want Washington to: 2) repeal or revise the new health care law, 3) provide more protection against terrorism, 4) reduce illegal immigration and 5) pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by next year.

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the presumed incoming House speaker, has signaled that spending cuts and repealing ObamaCare will be the priorities for the GOP majority.

But Democratic leaders are doubling down. President Obama flatly rejected in a press conference that his policies were to blame for the election losses. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday she would run for House minority leader in the next Congress. With so many moderates in the caucus out in January, she may win.

“We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back,” she said in a statement.

But most Americans — 57% — said an ObamaCare rollback should be a “high priority” for Congress — including 46% who say it’s very important.

The public is cool to liberal solutions to cut the deficit or boost the economy. Just 7% say deficit-cutting tax hikes are a top priority. Only 14% say the same about a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes.

Only 29% support the idea of more government spending to stimulate the economy; just 14% say it should be a top agenda item.

Cutting business and corporate taxes to stimulate the economy get a much better response, cited as a high priority by 47%.

Regarding the Bush tax cuts, the vast majority, 83%, favor extending them for those earning under $250,000 annually. Of that, 25% want them made permanent, while 58% favor extending them temporarily. Only 13% want them to expire.

Fifty-six percent want the cuts extended for those earning more than $250,000, 16% permanently. Only 39% want them to expire.

A recession has made the public leery of raising energy costs. Fully 41% say it’s a high priority for Congress to back off new energy regulations such as cap-and-trade; 28% say it’s a low priority.

Leaving Afghanistan may be the one area where Democratic leaders’ priorities align with the public’s. After a decade of fighting, 58% call it a high priority to pull the troops out by next summer.

The poll of 617 Americans was taken Nov. 1-4. It has a margin of error of +/- 4 points.

Full article can be found at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/552985/201011051935/Americans-Message-To-New-Congress-Less-Govt-Please.aspx