Nearly half of Americans agree with the Obama administration’s contention that the economy will be hurt by the spending cuts prompted by the sequestration, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
About one-third said the automatic cuts to military and domestic programs that went into effect because President Obama and Republicans in Congress could not agree on a budget plan would have no effect on the economy one way or the other. Just 1 in 10 said the automatic cuts would help the economy.
In his news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said that his administration’s disaster warnings about the economic effects of the automatic spending cuts were not overblown: “It’s slowed our growth, it’s resulting in people being thrown out of work, and it’s hurting folks all across the country.”
The poll results showed that the sentiment that the cuts will hurt the economy was shared by Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.
Troy Carter, a Democrat and a professor of physics in Los Angeles, has seen the cuts limit his department’s ability to staff positions.
“While I’ve been personally impacted, I also think the cuts are going to hurt the economy in general. Having to cut staff that is not easily recoverable is harmful, and building a work force back up is costly,” he said in a follow-up interview. “We can’t just do austerity. We should take a comprehensive look at government spending, cut in some areas, raise some taxes, and increase investments in spending that are strategic for the growth of the country.”
But few Americans in the Times/CBS News poll said they had personally felt any effects from the budget cuts. Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they personally had not been affected, 19 percent said they had been somewhat affected, and just 8 percent said they had been affected a great deal.
“I haven’t personally noticed any difference,” said Carolyn McDonald, 67, a clinical microbiologist in Lexington, Ky., who identifies as a Republican. “I think the cuts could hurt some people. Whether they would be hurt more if they had to pay more in taxes, I don’t know. It’s hard to weigh which would be better.”
Kristie Shirley, a homemaker in Albuquerque, said she and her husband, who is in the military, had worried about what the cuts would do to his future paychecks.
“The government seems to cut the programs according to whichever ones whine the most or put up the least fight, instead of agreeing on which programs deserve to be cut,” said Ms. Shirley, a 37-year-old Republican. “They’re cutting defense, and I don’t know if that’s the smartest place to cut.”
The nationwide telephone survey was conducted from April 24 to 28 on both land lines and cellphones with 965 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. More results will be released at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on nytimes.com.
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Almost Half of Americans Say Budget Cuts Will Hurt Economy
Nearly half of Americans agree with the Obama administration’s contention that the economy will be hurt by the spending cuts prompted by the sequestration, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.