The presidential debt commission’s recommendation to downsize the federal payroll by 10 percent during the next decade wins a landslide two-thirds approval from voters, according to a poll released today.
The proposal, which the commission’s draft plan claimed would eliminate roughly 200,000 positions and save $13.2 billion, garnered 66 percent of respondents in favor, with 22 percent opposed and 12 percent unsure, according to the Rasmussen Reports poll.
The results both echo the insistence on renewed fiscal conservatism that voters sounded in the November 2 midterms and fuel momentum behind the commission’s bitter prescriptions—unveiled earlier this month to criticism from across the spectrum, but met with approval from constituencies whose backing showed the perceived gravity of the problem.
Rasmussen asked 1,000 likely voters about cutting the payroll either by slimming the ranks of federal employees or cutting their pay. Earlier surveys have pointed to public opinion that government workers earn more than their private sector counterparts.
Full Story: NationalJournal.com – Voters Back Steep Cuts in Federal Payroll – Monday, November 22, 2010