Heading into New Year and New Congress, Voters across the Political Spectrum Agree the Nation’s Debt should be Top Priority in Washington

NEW YORK — The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s December Fiscal Confidence Index, a monthly measure of public attitudes about the nation’s long-term debt and the efforts elected leaders are making to address America’s fiscal challenges, is 43 (100 is neutral), indicating voters’ ongoing concern about America’s fiscal future. Attitudes about the national debt remained consistently low throughout 2014, as the Fiscal Confidence Index has ranged between 41 and 49 over the last 12 months.

Heading into a new year with a new Congress, Americans overwhelmingly feel that the debt should be a primary focus for lawmakers in Washington. Fully eight in ten (80%) agree that the issue should be one of the top three priorities for the President and Congress, including six in ten (60%) who agree strongly. Voters across the political spectrum agree on the urgency of the problem, as approximately seven in ten (69%) Democrats, eight in ten (81%) Independents, and nine in ten Republicans (90%) agree that the debt should be one of the top three priorities in Washington.

Michael A. Peterson, President and COO of the Peterson Foundation, said, “Despite the recent improvement in short-term deficits, Americans fully understand that our Nation’s long-term fiscal challenges remain. Looking ahead to 2015 and a new Congress, voters are calling for renewed focus in Washington on addressing our long-term fiscal and economic challenges. As Washington gets to work in January, Americans expect their leaders to stabilize the debt in order to lay the fiscal foundation necessary for a growing and prosperous economy, now and in the future.”

The Fiscal Confidence Index measures public opinion about the national debt by asking six questions in three key areas:

• CONCERN: Level of concern and views about the direction of the national debt.
• PRIORITY: How high a priority addressing the debt should be for elected leaders.
• EXPECTATIONS: Expectations about whether the debt situation will get better or worse in the next few years.

The survey results from these three areas are weighted equally and averaged to produce the Fiscal Confidence Index value. The Fiscal Confidence Index, like the Consumer Confidence Index, is indexed on a scale of 0 to 200, with a neutral midpoint of 100. A reading above 100 indicates positive sentiment. A reading below 100 indicates negative sentiment.

Fiscal Confidence Index Key Data Points:

• The December 2014 Fiscal Confidence Index value is 43. A score of 100 is neutral. Values below 100 show negative sentiment, while values above 100 show positive sentiment. (November’s value was 44. October’s value was 49.)
• The current Fiscal Confidence Index score for CONCERN about the debt is 37, indicating deep concern about the debt. The score for debt as a PRIORITY that leaders must address is 23, indicating that Americans want elected leaders to make addressing long-term debt a high priority. The score for EXPECTATIONS about progress on the debt is 71, indicating strong pessimism about the direction of long-term fiscal policy in the next few years. The Fiscal Confidence Index of 43 is the average of these three sub-category scores.
• The monthly indexes in 2014 indicated that Americans’ attitudes about the national debt were consistently negative throughout the year.
• For a description of the complete methodology, see the Appendix below.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation commissioned the poll by the Global Strategy Group and North Star Opinion Research to survey public opinion on the national debt. The nationwide poll included 1,006 U.S. registered voters, surveyed by telephone between December 15 and December 18, 2014. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. The poll examined voters’ opinions on the national debt, political leadership, and America’s fiscal and economic health.

Detailed poll results can be found online at: www.pgpf.org/what-we-are-doing/education-and-awareness/fiscal-confidence-index

About the Peter G. Peterson Foundation
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key long-term fiscal challenges threatening America’s future, and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find and implement sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. To learn more, please visit www.pgpf.org.

APPENDIX: Fiscal Confidence Index Methodology and Questions

• The Fiscal Confidence Index is released monthly by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
• The Fiscal Confidence Index value is based on six questions in three categories.
• As is done with the Consumer Confidence Index, the first step in calculating the Fiscal Confidence Index is determining the “Relative Value” for each question. This calculation is made by taking the positive response for each question and dividing it by the sum of the positive and negative responses. Each question was asked on a four-point scale, and answers were weighted according to intensity, with the strongest responses counting twice as much as the middle responses (“much” better or worse answers count twice as heavily as “somewhat” better or worse answers).
• The scores for the Concern, Priority, and Expectations categories are determined by averaging the scores derived from the two questions in each category.
• The Fiscal Confidence Index value is converted from the Relative Value to place it on a scale on which 100 indicates equal positive and negative sentiment, while values below 100 indicate negative sentiment and values above 100 indicate positive sentiment.
• The Peter G. Peterson Foundation commissioned the poll by the Global Strategy Group and North Star Opinion Research to survey public opinion on the national debt. The nationwide poll included 1,006 U.S. registered voters, surveyed by telephone between December 15 and December 18, 2014. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. The poll examined voters’ opinions on the national debt, political leadership, and America’s fiscal and economic health.
• The questions are as follows: