August 12, 2011
Nearly one-out-of-two Americans (48%) think that cuts in government spending are at least somewhat likely to lead to violence in the United States, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. But that includes just 13% who feel it’s Very Likely.
Nearly as many Adults (44%), however, believe violence as the result of spending cuts is unlikely, but only 12% say it’s Not At All Likely. (To see survey question wording,
click here.)
Americans under 50 raise the possibility of violence more than their elders. Most adults not affiliated with either party (58%) think spending cuts are likely to trigger violence, compared to 46% of Republicans and 42% of Democrats.
Tax hikes and a crashing stock market are seen as less incendiary in the minds of most Americans. Thirty-seven percent (37%) think increased taxes are at least somewhat likely to lead to violence, but 59% view that as unlikely. This includes 14% who say such violence is Very Likely and 20% who believe it’s Not At All Likely.
Similarly, 35% feel that it’s at least somewhat likely that a crashing stock market will lead to violence in the United States, with 13% who say it’s Very Likely. However, 60% say violence from a crashing market is unlikely, including 16% who say it’s Not At All Likely.
In early January, following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six others in Arizona, 45% of Likely U.S. Voters were at least somewhat concerned that
those opposed to President Obama’s policies will resort to violence, but 52% did not share that concern.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on August 10-11, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by
Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See
methodology.
Several prominent Democrats and their media friends have
charged the Tea Party with being economic terrorists during the congressional budget debates, but just 29% of voters agree.
More voters, in fact, still think the average Tea Party member has a better handle on America’s problems than the average member of Congress does, although there’s a sharp difference of opinion between Democrats and Republicans.
There’s little difference of opinion between Tea Party members and those who are not members of the grass roots movement on the risk of violence from spending cuts. Tea Party members are more likely than non-members to think tax hikes or a crashing stock market could lead to violence.
More Republicans (41%) see a likelihood of violence from tax hikes than do Democrats (34%) and unaffiliated adults (35%). But the majority of all three groups think violence is unlikely from either a crashing market or tax increases.
Conservatives see a likelihood of violence under all three scenarios more than moderates and liberals do. Those who earn less than $60,000 a year are more likely to agree than those who earn more.
Just 22% of voters
approve of the debt ceiling deal recently reached by the president and Congress, and most doubt it will actually reduce government spending.
In addition to cutting a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, the two sides also agreed to form a special congressional committee to recommend $1.5 trillion in additional cuts by the end of the year, and if the committee fails to do that, automatic across-the-board spending cuts are supposed to go into effect, including cuts in Medicare and defense spending.
Fifty-two percent (52%) oppose those automatic spending cuts if Congress doesn’t reach its reduction goals.
Still, voters feel more strongly than ever that
decreasing government spending is good for the economy and think tax increases of any kind are a bad economic move. Sixty-seven percent (67%) think that thoughtful
spending cuts should be considered in every program of the federal government.
The debt ceiling debate has highlighted the political difficulty of coming to grips with the federal government’s .massive debt. Voters now are almost evenly divided over whether they prefer
a congressman who would reduce that debt with spending cuts only or opt for a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.
Near the end of a volatile week on Wall Street,
investor confidence has fallen to a two-year low, consumer confidence is just above the lowest levels of the past two years, and
confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system is the lowest ever recorded.
Additional information from this survey and a
full demographic breakdown are available to
Platinum Members only.