From Stan Collender:
[A]nyone who insists that Americans are unambiguous about tackling the budget is misreading or misstating the actual situation. Yes, polls consistently show strong opposition to federal debt and strong support for reducing the deficit. But they also show outright hostility to virtually all of the policy changes that would make it possible to substantially reduce the deficit and the amount the government borrows. Anyone who uses only one part of the results to justify his or her proposal or vote, or to condemn others, is cherry-picking the results and should be called out for it. [...]
[E]ven though the budget is a numbers problem, these deep contradictions clearly show that the budget is not a rational issue for most Americans; it's an emotional issue, and that's why policymakers, interest groups and others typically fail to gain much traction in the debate with graphs and charts. Desires, dreams and hopes are more important than statistics.
When talking about public opinion and the budget, we often forget that most people know very little about the issues involved or even understand the difference between a household budget and the accounts of a national government in a $14 trillion economy. For most people, as Collender rightly notes, the budget is a proxy issue for other concerns and questions: Is government working? Is it working for me? Do I feel secure about my future? Etc. If there's anything to take away from the public's opinion on debt and deficits, it's this.
