Majorities in new poll want overall spending cuts with increases for infrastructure, health care, Social Security

Majorities of Americans in a new poll say they want the federal government to cut spending overall, while increasing funding for infrastructure, health care and Social Security.

Sixty percent in The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released on Wednesday said they think the government is spending too much. 

However, 63 percent also said the U.S. is spending too little on health care, while another 62 percent each said the same of Social Security and infrastructure, the survey found.

This seemingly contradictory split comes as Congress is gearing up for a spending battle over the debt ceiling. House Republicans have vowed to tie an increase in the debt limit to spending cuts but have faced pushback on proposed cuts to certain areas, including Social Security and Medicare.

Similar to Congress, Americans’ views are split along party lines in the new survey. While 37 percent of Democrats said the government’s spending is about right, a resounding 88 percent of Republicans said the U.S. is spending too much.

However, respondents from both parties showed relatively little support for the U.S. increasing spending on its assistance to other countries, with 69 percent overall saying the government is spending too much on foreign aid.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted March 16-20 with 1,081 adults and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.