e Are All Tea Partiers Now: Americans Say No to Debt Ceiling Increase

We Are All Tea Partiers Now: Americans Say No to Debt Ceiling Increase

on Tue, 8 Oct 2013

A new Fox News poll shows that a majority of American voters--58 percent--would vote "no" on raising the debt ceiling. Only 37 percent of American voters would vote to raise the debt ceiling. 

An even bigger majority--62 percent--would only vote to raise the debt ceiling after "major cuts in government spending." 

Only one in four Americans--27 percent--says that it would be "reckless" even to debate not raising the debt ceiling.

The poll, conducted by a bipartisan team of polling firms surveying 952 registered voters on land lines and cell phones, was conducted on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2. The margin of error is 3 percent. 

The striking results of the poll indicate that most Americans are in line with the Tea Party position on the debt ceiling than with the politicians and pundits in Washington who routinely slam fiscal conservatives and the very idea of spending restraint.

Other results from the poll include that more Americans think the sequester cuts were good (48 percent) than bad (39 percent), despite attempts by the Obama administration and the Democrats to maximize perceptions that the cuts were harming the economy. 

Speaker of the House John Boehner has already pledged to avoid default--though his plan includes using the Full Faith and Credit Act to prioritize debt payments, which Democrats reject.