While about 60 percent of Americans support across-the-board government spending cuts, the opposite is true when it comes to cuts to military spending, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday.
The national poll of 1,017 adults conducted from Feb. 27 – March 3 found that 61 percent supported a 5 percent overall reduction in spending, while just 33 percent opposed it. An 8 percent reduction in military spending, on the other hand, was met with 60 percent opposition, compared to 34 percent that supported it.
The reduction percentages polled mimic the cuts spurred by the sequester that took effect at the end of last week.
While majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents gave a thumbs up to the 5 percent spending reduction — Republicans favored them the most with 76 percent supporting them compared to 60 percent of independents and 57 percent of Democrats.
Likewise, on the military spending side, majorities of in all three categories opposed an 8 percent spending reduction in spending. Democratic opposition to military spending cuts boasted the slimmest margin of opposition — with 48 percent opposing cuts compared to 47 percent that approved of them.
As the Washington Post noted, the findings stand in contrast to a recent Pew Research Center survey, which found that majorities of Americans either wanted to maintain or increase spending for specific programs, such as entitlements, education and environmental protection.
The Washington Post/ABC News results have a +/- 3.5 point margin of error.