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WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to a recent Politico/George Washington University Battleground poll, more than two-thirds oppose raising taxes on small businesses that earn more than $250,000 per year. 75% of Americans also want across-the-board spending cuts to the federal budget.
While raising the tax rate on the wealthiest of individuals, a greater number polled were in favor of cutting government. 59% said they strongly favored spending cuts across the board, compared to just 41% that strongly supported raising taxes on top earners and 19% that somewhat supported it. Also, half of those polled strongly opposed hiking taxes on small businesses while 47% strongly supported raising taxes on large corporations.
The poll asked 1,000 respondents, “As you may already know, in December, Congress will consider a number of proposals to reduce the federal budget deficit. Please listen carefully as I read each proposal and tell me if you would favor or oppose that particular proposal.”
Proposals mentioned in Questions 28 and 29 had the following responses:
- “Raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000.” – 41% strongly favored tax hikes on high earners, and 19% somewhat supported it. Only 25% were strongly opposed and 13% were somewhat opposed, while 2% were undecided.
- “Raising taxes on small businesses that earn more than $250,000.” – 29% were in favor of such a plan with less than 13% strong supporting. A total of 69% were in opposition of raising taxes on small businesses that earn more than $250,000 a year.
The poll comes as President Barack Obama is facing off against House Republicans on talks to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, which refers to raising tax rates for all income brackets and allowing automatic spending cuts (sequestration) to kick in at the beginning of the New Year, unless Congress acts.
On some other issues, the poll showed that the largest number, 23%, considered “government spending and the budget deficit” as the most important question Congress should focus on, followed by 22% the economy and 14% on jobs. Only 2% thought illegal immigration was the most important question for Congress.
In spite of some supposing President Obama was given a mandate in his victory last month, a majority of Americans still think the country is on the wrong track. When asked, “Do you feel things in the country are going in the right direction, or do you feel things have gotten off on the wrong track?”, 59% responded yes.
Also indicative of how evenly divided the country remains was the response to this question: “How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as President? Do you approve or disapprove of the job he is doing?” 50% said they either approved or strongly approved. 47% said they either disapproved or strongly disapproved.
