海角大神

Americans may not view the 鈥渟equester鈥� as an example of brilliant budgeting, but they largely agree on one thing: They support the idea of cutting federal spending.

At least that鈥檚 what a new 海角大神 Science Monitor/TIPP poll indicates, at a time of high-stakes bargaining in Washington over the size of the federal budget.

The public's approval for spending cuts isn鈥檛 rooted in expectations that they will help the economy in the short term. But it does appear tied to concerns that high federal deficits should be controlled, and that the government could use the same kind of belt-tightening that millions of private households have gone through in recent years.

The Monitor/TIPP poll asked Americans to say which of two views they agreed more with. One was that federal programs are 鈥渞iddled with waste and inefficiency,鈥� and sizable cuts 鈥渨ould help the economy over time.鈥� The other was that the programs 鈥渕eet real needs for the nation, for individuals, and for businesses,鈥� and that cuts would harm the economy.

Some 62 percent of respondents opted for the 鈥渁re riddled with waste鈥� view, while 33 percent were on the 鈥渕eet real needs鈥� side.

The result should be taken with grains of salt, of course. Just as people give Congress an abysmal approval rating while supporting their own congressional representative, they are prone to see government as inefficient in general, while being reluctant to cut cherished programs.

At the same time though, this poll suggests that many Americans don't necessarily see budget cuts as a terrible thing.

That鈥檚 an interesting finding, given that some other polls taken prior to the March 1 sequester found that Americans were hoping the cuts could be postponed or avoided. The distinction may be that Americans don't like the arbitrary nature of the sequester cuts (which hit most federal programs equally), but believe federal spending in general is bloated.

The poll, conducted by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence for the Monitor and Investor鈥檚 Business Daily, also asked whether a 3 percent cut in federal spending (the rough size of the sequester, by one measure) is 鈥渁bout right鈥� or not. While 42 percent said it鈥檚 about right, an equal number said the cuts should be deeper.

Such poll results may also help explain why President Obama has softened his tone in recent days on fiscal matters, shifting from dire warnings about the effects of automatic spending cuts to more nuanced rhetoric.

鈥淲e will get through this,鈥� Mr. Obama said Friday. 鈥淭his is not going to be an apocalypse, I think, as some people have said. It's just dumb, and it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt individual people and it's going to hurt the economy overall.鈥�

The sequester, which arrived on March 1 as the two political parties declined to hash out an alternative spending plan, seeks to lop about $85 billion from fiscal year 2013 spending. The biggest federal programs are mostly exempt, but the cuts generally go across the board.

Another question in the Monitor/TIPP poll (conducted Feb. 25 to March 5, with a 3.4 percentage point margin of error) asked Americans to choose a preferred approach for reducing the nation鈥檚 debt. Some 62 percent preferred 鈥渃utting general government spending,鈥� while 17 percent chose 鈥渋ncreasing taxes鈥� and 14 percent said 鈥渞eforming entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.鈥�

Budget experts generally say one or both of the least-popular choices 鈥� tax hikes or less-generous entitlements 鈥� will ultimately be needed to prevent a debt from growing into a millstone-size economic problem.

Given that reality, the poll also asked people what they鈥檇 opt for if they had to choose between tax hikes or entitlement cuts, such as a one-year boost in the eligibility age for Social Security. On this question, 49 percent opted for entitlement reform, and 39 percent said they鈥檇 rather get tax hikes.

Although opinion surveys don鈥檛 reveal any abiding love for the sequester approach, one recently found Americans taking a lesser-of-evils view toward it.

A Fox News poll found that 57 percent of Americans agree with the view that "the only way to get the deficit under control is through actions like the automatic spending cuts,鈥� whereas only 29 percent said Congress could get the job done without such a self-imposed threat.

Many budget forecasters say federal deficits are likely to decline over the next couple of years, even if the sequester cuts were canceled, due to rising tax revenue and an improving economy.

But proponents of addressing the nation鈥檚 high public debt say such spending cuts and other deficit-reduction measures are still needed.

On that front, even if entitlements are the central challenge, that doesn鈥檛 mean that it鈥檚 pointless to look for greater efficiency across the discretionary side of the budget. Several studies in recent years have concluded that federal agencies have lagged behind the private sector in productivity.