WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans overwhelmingly are concerned about the U.S. debt crisis and a majority back the type of compromise pushed by President Barack Obama, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.
Showing an intensity of interest among Americans who often ignore the intricacies of policy in Washington, 83 percent of those polled said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the looming deadline for Congress to raise the ceiling on America's borrowing or have the nation run out of money to pay all its bills by August 2.
The poll found that 56 percent of Americans want to see a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases to bring down the U.S. budget deficit and permit a vote to raise the country's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. That is the approach proposed by Obama. Congressional Republicans oppose any tax increases.
"It does seem to be that the popular narrative is falling on the side of the president on this one," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.
Obama and congressional Republicans are at odds over how to put America's fiscal house in order. Obama prefers a mix of government spending cuts and tax increases. Republicans back cutting back deeply on spending, saying the federal budget has gotten out of control.
In the poll, 19 percent said the best approach is only to cut existing programs, and 12 percent said only raising taxes would be the favored solution.
WHO'S TO BLAME?
Blame for the debt impasse is fairly evenly distributed, with 31 percent of people in the Reuters/Ipsos poll holding Republican lawmakers responsible, 21 percent blaming Obama and 9 percent blaming Democratic lawmakers.
Along those lines, 29 percent said Republican lawmakers should give the most ground in the negotiations, a quarter said Obama should and a fifth said Democrats should.
The debt debate has potential consequences for the 2012 election year when Obama is seeking a second term as president.
People who identified themselves as political independents, who Obama needs to win re-election, tended to side with the Republicans. The poll found that 29 percent of independents said Obama should give the most ground in the negotiations, while 13 percent said Republicans should.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 600 people, including 512 registered voters, had a margin of error of 4 percent for all adults and 4.3 percent for registered voters. It was conducted overnight on Monday.
The United States will lose its top-notch AAA credit rating from at least one major rating agency, according to another Reuters poll on Tuesday.
Obama's Democrats and their Republican rivals have so far failed to forge agreement and are pursuing competing debt plans to avert a potentially disastrous default.
The gridlock alarmed investors worldwide. U.S. stocks and the dollar fell while gold hovered near record highs. There was no hint of panic, however, as markets held out hope the stalemate could still be broken.
(Additional reporting by Alistair Bell; Editing by Will Dunham)
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