WASHINGTON -- The budget cuts in Washington have not hit home in America, at least not yet.
A plurality of U.S. residents think federal spending cuts will have no effect at all on them or their families, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll. At the same time, just as many think the cuts will have no effect or a positive effect on the overall economy as think the cuts will hurt the economy, the survey found.The numbers indicate how the politics of the spending fight in Washington have yet to be settled in the country, and why the two major parties could continue to struggle to reach an agreement in budget debates.President Barack Obama has not yet convinced the majority that the cuts will be bad for them and the nation. He has hoped citizens would rise up in anger at the spending cuts and force Republicans to agree to an alternative plan to curb the deficit that would include tax increases and fewer spending cuts.And the impact of the spending cuts being implemented are unlikely to become any clearer before Obama and Congress move on to other budget debates in coming weeks. Unpaid days off for some federal workers, for example, will not start for several weeks at least."In the early innings, people are not seeing the immediacy of this," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College in New York, which conducted the poll."In terms of themselves, almost half don't think it's going to have an effect. They feel isolated from the impact."Among the findings:A plurality of registered voters -- 49 percent -- said the current cuts will have no impact at all on them or their families. Thirty-nine percent said the cuts would have a negative impact, and 10 percent said they would have a positive impact.Independents and Republicans are more likely to see no effect.Among independents, 52 percent expect no effect, 39 percent expect a negative effect and 7 percent expect a positive effect.Among Republicans, it's 52, 36 and 8 percent.Democrats are evenly split at 41 percent each on whether the cuts will be negative or have no impact on their families. In a surprise, 14 percent of Democrats expect a positive impact for themselves.Thinking beyond their families, 47 percent of voters think the spending cuts now starting to take effect will have a negative impact on the economy, while 27 percent said they will have no effect and 20 percent said they will have a positive effect.Economists expect the automatic cuts -- called a sequester -- to reduce growth this year by 0.2 percentage point, to 0.7 point.Generally, voters, by 53 to 37 percent, prefer to reduce the deficits by mostly cutting government programs and services rather than mostly by raising taxes.Yet voters favor spending cuts for just three areas of the budget -- defense, energy and unemployment benefits -- when given specific choices.The telephone survey of 1,233 adults living in the continental U.S. was conducted March 4 through Thursday. Results are statistically significant within plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
