What are the thoughts and sentiments of the general public on key fiscal issues? The answers are critical to mobilizing ordinary citizens and spurring legislators to action—and the reason PGPF regularly commissions public opinion research on the economic challenges we face.
In March 2009, PGPF released the results of a national survey that found a clear majority of respondents (56%) believe our leaders in Washington are not paying enough attention to our federal budget problems. They ranked the need to address our budget challenges as a top priority for the Obama Administration.
The results also showed broad support for a bipartisan commission that would make recommendations for tackling the nation's deficit and debt that Congress would be required to vote on. Survey respondents saw the threat to America's future posed by our growing deficit and debt as more significant than global warming, declines in education and manufacturing, and the prospect of a rogue nation developing a nuclear weapon.
Another PGPF-commissioned survey, conducted in November 2009, showed even greater public alarm about the nation's deteriorating finances. In this polling, voters perceived dealing with the deficit and debt as a higher priority than passing health care reform, dealing with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, improving public schools, and cutting taxes for the middle class. And the percentage of those who felt Washington leaders are paying too little attention to budget problems was ten points higher in this survey than in the one released the previous March (66% to 56%).