Poll: Deficit's a Big Problem - So is Fixing It

By Bob Benenson
CQ
March 31, 2010

The public, by an overwhelming margin, views the federal deficit as a looming national problem, according to a new poll released Wednesday morning.

But what voters want the government to do about the deficit, and whom they blame for it, is clear as mud -- a problem for Democrats as they defend their congressional majorities in 2010, but also for Republicans as they seek to reclaim power in Washington.

The deficit was described as a "crisis" by 50 percent of respondents and a major problem by 43 percent, for a total of 93 percent in the poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for the Democratic consulting group Democracy Corps in a joint effort with Louisiana's Tulane University.

But other findings indicate just how difficult it will be for policymakers to address the issue.

(More here.)