Voters Reject Medicare Cuts Flat Out, Prefer Tax Hikes To Reduce Deficit: Survey

[limpyhobbler]

WASHINGTON -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security should be off the table as congressional leaders attempt to broker a deal to avoid the sequester that kicks in Jan. 1, according to a new survey from Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America's Future.

The survey by two progressive groups found that voters support an approach to the country's economic woes that includes protecting entitlement benefits as well as raising taxes on the wealthiest earners and bolstering investments to aid long-term growth.

"Americans are not looking for austerity now," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. "They are looking for a program, a long-term program, that will create jobs and will get the economy going and that will bring [the deficit] into balance over time."

Seventy percent of the 1,000 voters polled on Nov. 6-7 called for increased investment in Medicare, Social Security and education, as opposed to only 27 percent who advocated the across-the-board cuts that Republicans have pushed -- and to which Democrats have generally acquiesced -- in budget negotiations over the past two years. Three-fourths of voters opposed deep cuts in domestic programs, including K-12 schools and college aid. Only 25 percent found such measures acceptable.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/voters-medicare-cuts_n_2094357.html